Sunrise
by Fox Scarlen
Summary: Not long after Rika's birthday in Runaway Locomon, Rika and Renamon stumble into a portal to the digital world and find themselves trapped. Now, they must look for a way out, while loved ones at home begin to worry over their disappearance. Discontinued.
1. Chapter 1

This is a story that I decided to write, mainly because Rika and Renamon are the most awesome pair of partners ever, and Digimon Tamers is my favorite season of Digimon. I have no idea why it's rated T. I'm just being super cautious. This will mostly be about Rika as she stumbles into a stray portal to the digital world, and how she and Renamon, who jumped in after her, try to make it back. Naturally, I'll also write about the other end of the spectrum, and how the other Tamers react to learning of Rika's disappearance and trying to figure out what happened to her. I'm almost positive there will be some Ryuki (Ryo/Rika), as I do support that pairing, but it will most likely happen in later chapters, as I think I'll figure out some way to send Ryo and Cyberdramon into the digital world as well. Oh, and during Rika's time in the digital world, she might just hear a rumor of a familiar face and do her best to track down said familiar face, for obvious reasons once their identity is revealed. Now, the beginning of the story will take place about half an hour after the end of Runaway Locomon, as I've always wanted to wrap that day up, and see how it ends. Don't bet on me bringing back her dad (he's alive and divorced, like in the English version, not dead as in the Japanese), though, as I don't particularly like him for simply leaving Rika and her mother, Rumiko. And, I'm going to stick with the English ages, meaning that Rika will have turned thirteen in the movie, instead of eleven, as she and the others just look like older characters. Also, I'm thinking that I will have Alice enter the story a little before Rika leaves to the digital world, as I'd like to have her there, as a potential new friend to the Tamers, mainly because they never really got to thank her, and Rika thought about her afterwards as shown in the show. One more thing: I will be writing digimon in lower case like we would with animals and such, instead of capitalized.

I'll do my best to keep all of the characters in character, and I will be using the English names, as that's what I'm used to, so Li Jenyra will be Henry Wong, Makino Ruki will be Rika Nonaka (if you hadn't already figured that out), Shiota Hirokazu is Kazu Shioda, Li Shiuchon is Suzie Wong, Katou Juri is Jeri Katou, and Ai and Makoto are Ai and Mako. That was all probably unnecessary to put, but hey. Whatever. On to the story!

Oh, and the disclaimer. I have not, nor have I ever owned any part of the Digimon franchise, and this is simply a fanfiction story. Seriously, would I be writing fanfiction if I owned Digimon?

And kudos to you if you actually read through all of that rambling. Here's the story now, I promise.

Chapter 1

_You promised me we'd stay for the sunset…_ The echoing words of a song she'd sung earlier that day reverberated in Rika's head. Her thoughts were of her father, but for once they weren't angry, sad, or confused. Simply thoughtful, as thoughts tend to be.

The redhead, with her tough, tomboyish attitude would probably always resent her father for leaving like he did, without a note, goodbye, or even a reason for his departure. And she would probably always be sad, for though she'd managed to visit him a couple of times when she was little, he'd moved once more, without saying later where he was. Rika definitely didn't forgive him, and she refused to forget his memory, but tonight, the eve of her thirteenth birthday, she sat, staring at the sunset and reminiscing about the time when he was still there.

"It's your father, isn't it?" Rika turned around and looked up to find her grandmother standing behind her. Typical. There's no way it could have been Rumiko-her mother could be such an airhead sometimes, but she _was _a model. Still, she'd changed since Rika had left for the digital world, and Rika had realized since then that her mother truly cared for. At least more than clothes, which said a lot.

Rika turned her head back to the setting sun. Finally, she breathed a quiet 'yeah'.

"He loved you."

Rika snorted. "If he loved me so much, why did he leave? He never gave a reason, and it wasn't long before he truly disappeared, without any of us knowing where he went."

Her grandmother sighed. "I wish I knew that as much as you," she said. "Rumiko was hurt, too, though she'd never let it show. She's kind of like you in that respect."

Her granddaughter smiled slightly. "True. Mom can be a little scatterbrained, but she's tough…when she wants to be."

Seiko patted Rika's shoulder. "I understand you want to be alone now, but today is your birthday, and you have many caring friends waiting inside who want to celebrate it with you."

"Humph."

"You don't _have_ to sing karaoke, you know." Her grandmother commented, getting a small grin from Rika. "Just come inside when you feel up to it." Seiko turned and walked back inside the house.

Sighing, Rika looked up at the sky. The sun had just about set, with a few scarlet streaks reaching out into the developing blackness of the night. Slowly, Rika got to her feet and walked to the door. She stood in front of it, looking inside at the party. Kazu was still talking with Ryo, who seemed as if he really wanted to get out of there. Kenta was plugging his ears, and Marineangemon was trying, due to Rumiko's horrible singing. _I can't believe Mom's still at it._ Rika thought as a small laugh escaped her mouth. Guilmon was chasing Impmon around, who was grinning and teasing Guilmon with stolen pieces of cake. Suzie was hugging Lopmon tightly in her lap, who in turn was struggling against Suzie's stranglehold. Henry was fighting to pull a sugar-buzzed Terriermon away from the table so he wouldn't scarf down all of the cake. "Save some for Rika!" He shouted at his partner, to no avail. "Rika shmika, I want more sugar!" Henry yanked Terriermon backwards, landing in a heap on the floor. "That does it, no more sugar, ever!" He said, holding Terriermon in a steely grip similar to Suzie's as his digimon struggled fiercely. Cyberdramon stood in a corner, arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently. _Is he _seriously_ standing guard? _Rika wondered. Seiko was in the kitchen, preparing some more food and cleaning used dishes, and Jeri had wandered in to help her. Guardromon was hovering nervously behind Kazu as his partner continuously chatted to Ryo, and Calumon was Calumon, flitting around here and there, and always wanting to play. And to Rika's surprise, she saw Takato leaning against the wall, looking worried and talking with Renamon, who seemed as calm as ever.

As quietly as she could, Rika slid open the door and walked in. Gently, she pulled the door shut again and went through the kitchen past the occupied Seiko and Jeri to the opposite side of the room where Takato and Renamon stood. Takato smiled as he saw her. "Hey Rika! I was getting kinda worried, you know, because this is your birthday and I don't want you to be unhappy and all so I was going to go out and talk to you but Renamon called me over so I'm guessing you just wanted to be left alone and-" Takato halted as he saw Rika's raised eyebrows. "I'll stop now," he said quickly, to Rika's amusement.

Renamon spoke this time. "Have you settled your thoughts?"

"Yeah," Rika said, and smiled. "How do you do that?"

Renamon tilted her head. "Do what?"

"Read my mind."

The yellow fox chuckled. "You are my partner, Rika. I'm sure you know me just as well." Rika nodded, pleased at the compliment.

"Well," Takato began, "I know my partner too, and I have a feeling that Guilmon's going to destroy your house if he keeps chasing Impmon around. Either that or he'll collapse, he looks so tired." Takato lunged forward and grabbed Impon.

"Hey, watchit bub, whataya think you're doin'? Let me go, I say, nothin' wrong with havin' a little fun, is there? It's not like Pineapple Head cares, right my little red-skinned friend?" Impmon asked Guilmon, who, panting, had run up to join them.

"Takatoooo!" Guilmon whined. "I just wanted to eat cake, but Impmon stole all of my cake and now he won't let me have any!"

Impmon laughed. "If you weren't so slow, you could have some!"

"See Takato? Impmon's a big meanie." Guilmon pouted and looked up at Takato for help.

His tamer looked at Impmon. "Impmon…."

"Oh all right, sheesh, you people don't cut me a break, do ya? Here ya go, some cake for the poor sucker!" The purple digimon held out his gloved hand, a piece of cake in it, to Guilmon.

"Oo, yummy!" Guilmon said, and reached out his claw to take the piece of cake. Right before he could grab it, Impmon snatched away his hand and shoved the cake in his mouth. "Mmf, scrmff, hahaha, thish cake ish delishussh! (Chewing noises, laughter, this cake is delicious!)"

"No fair no fair no fair!" Guilmon whined and looked at Takato. "Will you get me some cake, Takato?"

Takato laughed. "Sure, pal!" Together the two walked to the table.

"Whaff? Ya leaffin' a'eady? Sheesh, wha a coupla boshos! (What? You're leaving already? Sheesh, what a couple of bozos!)" Impmon cried out, then waved his hand in dismissal. "Ah, who needs 'em?"

Rika stood with Renamon, a small grin on her face at Guilmon's and Impmon's antics. "Those two…" she said, and Renamon smiled as well.

"Always full of life, aren't they?"

"Always," Rika agreed. She looked over to Kazu and Ryo, whose face looked a little pained. "You know, I think I feel a little sorry for him."

"No," Renamon said jokingly, "the Ice Queen has feelings?"

"Haha, very funny, Renamon. I didn't know you had such a _charming_ sense of humor."

"You do not appreciate it?"

Rika rolled her eyes. "Sure I do."

Renamon chuckled again, then changed the subject. "Are you going to get any cake?"

"I'd prefer to stay hidden for the moment." Rika said. Unfortunately, that was to be short-lived.

Kazu was still lecturing Ryo. "You see, man, being a tamer is hardly an easy task. And sure, you're famous, so what? Living the high life and signing autographs is easy work, man, you gotta get down in the trenches! Oh wait, I said that already, didn't I? Anyways, it's not just about the cards, 'cause you got that down alright, Mr. Digimon Champion, but have you got the heart and the courage? Well, of course you do, you're the coolest ever Ryo Akiyama, man, but you still can't compare to me and Guardromon, right buddy?"

"Right!" Guardromon responded.

"'Cause, you know, we're the most awesome team! Now, you and Cyberdramon really gotta work on your partnership, dude! 'Cause, like, you're not on the same wavelength at all, man! You gotta really connect, like me and Guardromon, right buddy?"

"Right!"

"You gotta really get closer, you know? He seemed like a good dude when he was Monodramon, but when he's Cyberdramon he's one mean puppy, you know what I mean? You can't use that whip of yours, you gotta build up a solid partnership like mine and Guardromon's, right buddy?"

"Right!"

"Connection, man, it's all about connection! You see-" Kazu continued rambling while Ryo listened on wearily. Looking up, he glimpsed Rika standing in the far corner, and his eyes widened. "Dude, are you even paying attention?" Kazu asked angrily.

"Of course I am. I just got a little distracted when I noticed that Rika had returned." Ryo said smoothly.

"What, Rika's back in? Oh, hey Rika! Glad you decided to join us!" Kazu yelled, and Ryo winced, realizing he'd probably made a grave mistake in telling Kazu Rika was back.

"Oh great, leave it to Kazu," Rika muttered under her breath as everyone in the room turned to look at her.

Jeri popped her head out of the kitchen. "Oh, Rika, you're back! Do you want some cake? We saved some for you!" She ducked her head back in and came out carrying a large piece of cake. "Happy birthday, Rika!" She congratulated her.

Rika smiled. Leave it to Jeri. "Thanks." She murmured, and took the cake from Jeri. Glaring, she looked around the room. "Well? What's with the staring?"

"Oh sorry!" "Woops!" "Not paying attention, not paying attention." "Eat your cake, we don't care, whatever." "Sorry!"

Rumiko grabbed the microphone, as she had stopped singing when her daughter had been pointed out. "I guess I'll start another song!" She said gleefully.

"NO!" Everyone chorused.

Rumiko looked hurt. "Even you, Mama?" She asked Seiko, who grinned.

"You may look good, daughter, but that doesn't do anything to your horrible singing voice." Even Rika laughed at that.

Pouting, Rumiko left the stage, and Kenta finally unplugged his ears. "So? Who's next?" He looked around the room.

"Well, we know Rika's out," Kazu began, "so who's left? C'mon, anyone wanna go?" The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Ryo cleared his throat nervously, and everyone turned to stare at him. "Um, thing is…" He hesitated, and Kazu clapped him on the back.

"Spit it out, man!"

Ryo began again. "Well, the thing is, I'm kind of curious to hear Rika sing." Before she could retort, he added, holding his hands out in front of him defensively, "But only if she wants to! I'm just kind of curious, that's all, when Kazu said Takato had told him she sings like a bird. So, what do you say, Rika?"

"Not on your life, Akiyama," Rika snapped, and folded her arms across her chest.

Jeri looked at Rika pleadingly. "Please, Rika? I know you don't want to, but it wouldn't be embarrassing. We've all heard you have an incredible voice, and we're dying to hear it."

"Sorry Jeri, but no," Rika responded shaking her head. "No way."

Then, Kazu did something completely unexpected. He stood up, dropping his arrogant attitude, and asked her nicely, "Rika, we would all love to hear your voice. You may hate singing, but from what we've heard from Takato and Renamon, well, mostly Takato, you sing amazingly, and we're all super curious to hear it."

Everyone stared at Kazu, and Rika pointed at him, a confused look on her face. "Was his brain rewired just now?" All of the other people in the room seemed just as confused.

"What?" Kazu asked, getting a little annoyed. "Yeah, I can act polite when I wanna, I just don't wanna all the time, okay?" He sat back down, grumbling to himself.

Calumon flew over to Rika while the rest were distracted, talking amongst themselves now about Kazu. "Please, Rika?" Calumon asked, eyes wide. "I really wanna hear you sing. I promise I won't ask you to play if you don't want to anymore, okay?" Rika stayed silent. "Oh," Calumon said, and began to fly away, disappointed, not seeing Rika gently bend over to place her cake on the table.

Closing her eyes, Rika began to tap her foot. Calumon landed on the floor and spun around to stare up at Rika. Taking a deep breath, Rika opened her mouth and began to sing.

"_Promise that we'll stay for the sunset,_

_And when the moon shines through the darkness,_

_We can find the path that leads us home,_

_And on the way you'll…maybe…sing me a song._

By now, the room had become dead silent once more, so quiet to the point where Rika's soft voice rang clearly through the space. Everyone hung on her every word, even Takato and Renamon, who'd heard it once before.

_Promise that you always will be there,_

_Hold my hand, if ever I'm real scared._

_Help me stand up tall if I fall down,_

_Make me laugh away on my bluest days._

_How could you promise you always would be there?_

_Why'd you have to go away somewhere?_

_Every morning into every night,_

_Do you watch over me, like the sun in the sky?_

_Am I all alone, or standing in your light?_

_I wish that I could…maybe…sing you a song…tonight…_

…_You promised me we'd stay for the sunset…_

As the last chords of Rika's song finished, she closed her mouth and stilled her tapping foot, lost in memories once more. She didn't open her eyes as everyone burst out clapping, with many cheering for her and Kazu even giving a whistle.

"That was brilliant, Rika!" Jeri praised, and Ryo murmured quietly, "So she really can sing."

"Awesome, Rika, awesome!" Kazu shouted, with Guardromon imitating him. "Awesome, Rika, awesome!" Kazu turned to him. "That's what I said!" His partner shook his head. "No, I said it." Kazu argued. "I said it first, you big copycat!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"So did too!"

As they began to argue the clapping and praise slowly died down. Rika opened her eyes reached out to grab her cake and fork, and dug in, savoring the strawberry flavoring and buttercream frosting. Swallowing, Rika set her plate down once more and walked over to the TV. Grabbing a DVD off the shelf, she waved it up high, hoping to distract them from her singing. "Who wants to watch Digimon Adventure?" She asked.

Her ploy worked. All tamers and digimon suddenly focused on the disk Rika was holding. "We do, we do!" They shouted, the digimon loudest of all, having never seen the TV show. Laughing, Rika took out the DVD and started the first episode, and soon all attentions were absorbed with the story of the Digidestined as they first fell into the digital world.

Rika returned to her cake and began to eat it once more. "Brilliant distraction," Renamon commented.

"We're all digimon fanatics here, so I figured it'd be the easiest way to take away their attentions. Mmmm, this cake is delicious! Grandma really outdid herself!"

Renamon glanced at her tamer. "Something confuses me. Why did you sing?"

Rika chewed thoughtfully for a while, listening to the TV.

"_Oh, by the way, my name's Tai. This is Sora. She's okay, for a girl. And Matt, Matt's too cool. Just look at that haircut! And this little kid is Izzy. He should've gone to computer camp. That's Mimi. I'll bet you can guess her favorite color on the first try! T.K. is Matt's dopey little brother. Oh, and this is Joe, but don't ever scare him, he'd probably wet his pants. There we all were at camp, when suddenly this huge blizzard came out of nowhere!_"

The TV continued to play the first episode of Digimon Adventure in the background, when Rika finally answered, shrugging. "I don't know. Maybe because Jeri really wanted to hear it? Because Kazu actually dropped his 'I'm the coolest ever' act? Probably because of Calumon, though. I do owe him my life, from that time he saved from drowning in the digital world."

"Not because of Ryo?"

Rika gagged on her piece of cake, causing Renamon to panic a little. Gasping, Rika swallowed the piece, and took a deep breath. "No way! I could care less what Akiyama wants!"

"Of course." Renamon agreed, but you could tell by the twinkle in her eyes that she did not quite believe her partner.

"C'mon." Rika said gruffly. "Let's watch the show. You haven't seen it either."

"No, I have not. Let us watch, then."

Grabbing a glass of milk off the table, Rika joined her friends seated on the floor in front of the TV and continued to savor her birthday cake.

…

"No no no, I don't want to leave, Takato!"

"You…have…to…" Panting, Takato tugged on Guilmon harder as he clung to the doorframe of Rika's house.

"Nooooo!" Guilmon wailed. "Biyomon just digivolved! I wanna see the others digivolve! And what are those black gear things? I wanna know I wanna know! Please Takato, please!"

"No, Guilmon, it's almost midnight, we have to leave! This isn't even our house! Listen boy, I've got the DVDs at home too, we can watch them there, okay?"

Grinning, Guilmon let go of the door frame as his attitude took a one-eighty. "Okay!" He said happily, and left, a bemused Takato following him after thanking the Nonakas one last time.

"Henry, you better have those DVDs at our home, too, 'cause I want to know as much as Guilmon! And when is Tentomon going to digivolve? 'Cause Izzy deserves a super strong partner!" Terriermon was chattering to Henry as he rode on his shoulder.

"Momentai, Terriermon, I've got 'em at home. You like Izzy?" Henry asked.

"Perfect! And you better believe it! Izzy is by far the awesomest of the team! Super-smart-kid for the win!" Terriermon shouted.

"The sugar hasn't worn off yet, has it?" Henry questioned, sighing.

"Nope!"

Suzie and Lopmon followed behind them. "Suzie, can you tell me what happens?" Lopmon asked her tamer.

Suzie grinned evilly. "Sowwy Lopmon, I can't tell you! You awe supposed to watch! I don't wanna spoil any secwets fow you!"

Sighing, Lopmon padded beside Suzie. "But I really want to know." She murmured, causing Suzie to grin more evilly.

"You'we gonna have to wait!" She declared, and that was that.

Kazu, Kenta, Guardromon and Marineangemon left together. "Awesome party, Rika!" Kazu said, and waved goodbye. "Thanks for the food, Ms. Nonaka." Kenta said, and bowed, with Marineangemon mimicking him, and left. "Thank you!" Both Rumiko and Seiko said at the same time and looked at each other.

"He probably meant you." Rumiko said, while Seiko said simultaneously, "He probably meant me." They both paused, and laughed.

"Thanks for all the food and the great time." Jeri said, and bowed before leaving.

Calumon flew out the door, calling over his shoulder, "That was fun! Let's play again sometime, okay?"  
"Sure, Calumon." Rika replied as he flew off.

Ryo and Cyberdramon were next. "I know you don't like me very much, but I had a good time, and I hope you did too." As he walked off, he waved back at her, "And your singing was brilliant!"

"Stupid perfect-"

"Rika." Her grandmother reprimanded her.

"Sorry." She muttered.

"Well, that should be everyone, right?" Rumiko asked, looking around.

"Ahem." Impmon cleared his throat below them.

"What do you want, Impmon?" Renamon asked.

"Well, um, I was wonderin', see, if…" Impmon scuffed his foot on the floor.

"Go on, Impmon, it's all right." Rika encouraged him.

"Well, uh, ya see, Ai and Mako don't have the Digimon seasons, so I was wonderin' if, ya know, maybe sometime we could come over, or somethin', and watch a few episodes, 'cause I thought it was pretty good and all, and I'm sure Ai and Mako would like it, seein' as they're tamers too, and I'm a little curious to see what else happens to the Digidestined, sooo…." Impmon trailed off and stared at the floor.

"Of course, Impmon," Rika said, and he looked at her incredulously.

"Really? Ya mean it?"

Rika smiled. "Sure. Just call ahead of time if you want to come over."

"Thanks, Rika!" Impmon grinned, and ran off.

"I wonder why we both have such a soft spot for him." Renamon mused.

"Dunno." Rika replied. "Anyways, let's go in." Rika headed back into the house, followed by Seiko and Rumiko.

"Aren't you going to open your presents yet?" Rumiko asked.

Rika shook her head. "I'll save them for tomorrow. Something to look forward to when I wake up." Yawning, Rika padded into her bedroom to get ready for bed. Renamon followed closely behind, and as the minutes passed and the moon drifted across the sky, the clock hit midnight to signal the start of Rika's first full day as a thirteen-year-old.

…

So…love it? Hate it? Sort of like it? Sort of despise it? Wanna read more? Wanna smash your computer it's so awful? Huh? Huh? (Basically I'm asking you to review.) Feedback, people!

Oh, and no offense to models. Rika's thoughts, not mine.

By the way, did anyone catch the joke with Terriermon's favorite character? If you did, good for you, but I'm going to explain it anyways. Mona Marshall, the voice actor of Terriermon, also voiced Izzy Izumi in the first Digimon season. Hence Terriermon's favorite character. ;D

And sorry if it's starting off a little slow, but I kind of got carried away. Believe me, there will be action once Rika and Renamon enter the digital world.

One last thing: if anyone spots any typos, feel free to point them out so I can correct them. Thanks for reading! I'll try to update as fast as I can!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two! Let's see now, I do believe Alice will be in this chapter and a little more real world stuff, then portal time!

And I do believe that I've already clarified this, but Digimon is NOT MINE. *sobs*

Chapter 2

"You're wearing it! Do you like it? I really hoped it would be an okay gift and all and-"

"Jeri, I love it. Now can you please shut up?"

"Right!" Jeri quieted down a moment, then squealed again, "Oh, I'm just so happy you like it!"

Rika smacked her palm to her forehead in defeat. "Yeah. Whatever. Let's go meet up with the others, alright?" A cold breeze blew and ruffled the two girls' clothes as they walked together to the park. Considering it was spring, it was still very cold on this particular day, and so Rika had chosen to wear Jeri's gift to her for her birthday party yesterday. It was a long, smooth scarf with a distinctive pattern of a block of yellow color, a block of purple color, a thin white stripe, and then repeat. The colors of Renamon. Rika was actually glad for Jeri's gift, because she did get cold, and she refused to wear any of the puffy pink scarves her mom always bought for her.

Though it was just about noon now, Rika had gotten up fairly early and opened her presents from last night. There was Jeri's scarf, a large pack of Digimon cards (a combined present from Kazu and Kenta, and currently in her pocket), a shirt from Takato that read 'Digimon Tamers' across the top, with a picture of all of the tamers and digimon together down below (Rika was wearing it now), a piece of 'Rika bread' from Guilmon (who apparently made it himself, and which was now packed in Rika's lunch), a guidebook to martial arts from Henry (she'd become interested in the topic lately and was thinking of taking it up), a handmade Renamon doll that Suzie, Lopmon, and reluctantly Terriermon all worked on together (currently sitting on her desk in her room), and a card from Impmon that he'd written in all by himself, with Ai and Mako helping here and there with spelling and such, as he had really only just learned. The card read:

"Happy 13th Birthday Rika!

I know this is hardly a gift and all, but I didn't know what to get you, seeing as you're pretty hard to figure out. No offense. So, I decided I'd write you something with my newfound skills (although Ai and Mako are helping)! Anyways, I wanted to thank you for coming back to save me, even after what I did. The others would never have done such a thing, but you and Renamon came back for me, and for that, I'm super grateful. Enough with the mushy stuff, I'm running out of room. Just thanks again and happy birthday!

-Impmon

P.S. Don't ever show this card to anyone else, except maybe Renamon. Think of all the hassle I'd get. Sheesh."

Rika smiled as she thought of his card. For other gifts, her mother had gotten her a new dress, but this time, Rika actually had to admit that she liked it (still doesn't mean she'll wear it). It was a smooth, azure dress with darker blue trimming on the short sleeves and bottom of the dress. It reached down a little past her knees, and it went up to her neck, instead of being low-cut, which Rika hated. And, Rumiko had told her that she could easily wear jeans underneath, and it would still match, which sort of clinched it for Rika. Seiko had made the cake, and had framed a picture of all of her friends as well as Seiko and Rumiko standing with her, which had its place on Rika's desk next to the Renamon doll. And Renamon, Renamon had gone out of her way and actually gone to visit a bookstore on her own, with Rumiko giving her the money to do so. There, despite many frightened looks in her direction, and a very reluctant cashier, Renamon had finally managed to buy the newest book in Rika's favorite series, and barely gotten there before it was sold out, as she had arrived at dawn to wait in line, it being a widely popular series. Rika had been delighted and touched at her partner's devotion to the gift, and if Rika hadn't been meeting up with her friends for lunch at the park, she might've just sat and read the book all day long.

And then there was Ryo. His gift confused her, infuriated her, touched her, made her unfathomably angry, and a whole maelstrom of emotions, hardly any of which she understood. His gift had been a silver fox face dangling from a slim silver chain, the face bearing an uncanny resemblance to Renamon's. Unsure what to do with it, she had it in her room for the time being, but she had to admit that she quite liked it. If only it hadn't come from Ryo, the guy she hated.

Whatever. She'd figure it out some other time. Now, Jeri was talking.

"Am I allowed to talk now? I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to annoy you earlier, I really wasn't. I was just so excited that you were actually wearing my gift! And you're wearing Takato's too! He'll probably enjoy seeing that! I wonder if he'll give me a shirt on my birthday?" Jeri paused and pondered that thought a moment.

"Ugh!" Rika groaned, and Jeri looked at her, puzzled. "When are you two just going to admit you like each other already?"

"What!" Jeri squeaked. "Nonono! I don't like Takato-I mean he doesn't like me-I don't-and all- and I don't think he does-and yeah-and why would you say that-I mean really-it's not-forget it-Rika!"

By now Rika couldn't help but laughing. "I'm just teasing you, Jeri! But seriously, it is kind of obvious."

"No it's not!"

"So you do like him."

"No I don't!"

"He likes you too."

"No he doesn-did he say that?"

"Maybe."

"What do you mean, maybe? Either he said it or he didn't!"

"Why do you care so much?"

"What? I..don't, not really, it's just…that…I'm sort of curious…and all…and…okay you got me."

"Did you not notice how much he cared about freeing you from the D-Reaper?"

"Um…no, but I wasn't really myself at the time."

"Right. Sorry."

"'S okay."

"Ah, we're here."

"There they are! I see them! Hey!" Jeri waved her arm and ran off to join the others all gathered beneath a giant oak. Rika hung back, a little embarrassed about having an actual girl talk, sort of, and a little ashamed at bringing up Jeri's time in the D-Reaper. She knew it had been tough on Jeri, and she knew she shouldn't have mentioned.

"Do not worry, Rika, Jeri is a strong girl, and she knows you did not dig up bad memories on purpose," Renamon said, advising Rika as she appeared at her side. The two walked over and joined the group.

"Let's see, all we're missing is Ryo," Kazu announced, looking around. "Man! The dude said he'd be here at noon, but I guess you just can't pressure cool people too much."

"Probably signing autographs to some stupid fangirls," Rika muttered under her breath. She opened her lunch bag and took out Guilmon's 'Rika bread', which really resembled a reddish-peach blob, as Guilmon hadn't really gotten the shape of her head, and sort of swirled the colors of her hair and skin together.

"Yay, Rika's eating my Rika bread!" Guilmon cheered, causing the others to laugh.

Rika took a bite and chewed slowly. "Mmm…" She swallowed. "This is delicious, Guilmon!" In all honesty, it really was. If it had tasted bad, Rika doubted she would spare Guilmon's feelings, but it really did taste good.

"Rika bread! Rika bread! It's a bread shaped like her head!" Guilmon chanted.

Takato laughed. "Sure buddy, whatever you say!"

Rika continued chewing her bread while the rest of the group talked animatedly, that is until Terriermon piped up. "Hey guys, is that Ryo and his guard dog I see?"

"Terriermon!" Henry chided his digimon.

"What? It's not like they can hear us."

"Hey everyone, sorry I'm late. There was a bit of traffic on the way here," Ryo apologized as he came over.

"Sure, no problem, Ryo! Come and join us!" Takato offered. Ryo gladly accepted, and took a seat next to, who else, Rika.

"Hey Wildcat, how's it going?"

"Stay out of my life, Hero Boy," Rika retorted.

Ryo held up his hands. "Whoah, someone's in a bad mood."

"I am when you're around," Rika said.

"Harsh," Ryo replied.

"You haven't seen anything yet."

"I look forward to it."

"Humph."

"That's enough, you guys," Henry said to Rika and Ryo. In turn, Rika folded her arms and pointedly looked away from Ryo, who smiled widely and laughed at her reaction, which only made her flick her lavender eyes angrily in his direction.

"What's wrong, pumpkin?"

"Jerk," she grumbled.

"Aw, is my Wildcat upset?"

Rika's head jerked in his direction and the fury in her eyes actually scared Ryo a little bit. Nervous, he scooted backwards. "_My_ Wildcat? _MY _Wildcat? Who do you think you are? Think you own me? Jerk! You must have a death wish, 'cause the D-Reaper is going to seem like _NOTHING_ once I'm done with you!" Eyes blazing, Rika would have hurled herself on Ryo if Renamon hadn't grasped her arms.

"Rika, calm down," Renamon told her. "He didn't mean anything by it."

Cyberdramon growled as he stood behind Ryo, who was shocked at Rika's reaction. "H-hey Rika, listen, I didn't mean anything by it, I promise! J-just don't freak out like that again, you know? I promise I'll never say anything like that again!"

Taking deep breaths, Rika managed to calm down. "You better not if you value your life, Akiyama," she threatened quietly.

"Rika," Renamon's voice held a reprimanding tone in it.

"Just saying."

Kazu whistled. "Wow man, you have been warned! Seriously, for a moment there I thought you had a death wish! I mean, the only thing worse would be bragging about how your Digimon card game skills so outrock hers!"

Rika fixated her glare on him. "Would you like to join Ryo in his grave?"

Kazu gulped. "Uh, no, I'm good." Quickly, he changed the subject. "So, uh, anyone seen the new Digimon movie yet? I heard Diaboromon is gonna be the main villain for about half of it, but then they do some stuff with the season two Digidestined as well."

Guilmon stuffed his claws in his ears. "Lalalala, not listening, not listening. Oh wait, now I can't eat! Takato, tell Blackwarkazumon not to spoil the movie!"

Takato looked at Guilmon. "Er, it's just Kazu and-"

"Nah, that's fine, dude!" Kazu interrupted. "Let him call me Blackwarkazumon all he wants, and I promise not to spoil a thing. Right, Guilmon?"

"Right, Blackwarkazumon!"

The group laughed, and as they continued to eat, Rika quietly finished her 'Rika bread' and an onigiri* in her lunch, packed the rest away, and put in her headphones. She looked out to the street as she listened to music, and froze as she saw a familiar figure.

The figure wore a black dress, and had golden blonde hair tied up in pigtails. It was a person Rika had met only once before, with Takato, Guilmon, Henry, Terriermon, and Renamon all by her side. They had watched as her digimon partner, Dobermon, gave his life and energy so that the three could bio-merge in the real world. She remembered how the emotions of pain and sorrow crossed the girl's face as her partner disappeared into thin air.

It was Alice.

Acting fast, Rika leaped up and yanked her headphones out, leaving them on the ground. Everyone stared at her as she took off running towards the street. "Rika, where are you going?" Ryo called out, but she didn't answer.

As soon as Takato and Henry saw who Rika was running to, a sharp intake of breath could be heard by each of them. Ryo looked strangely at them. "Do you know who Rika is running to?"

"Alice," Henry said softly. "The girl whose partner gave his life so that we could bio-merge and defeat the D-Reaper."

Rika was almost caught up to her. "Wait!" She called out. "Hold on a sec!" Startled, Alice turned around, and her eyes widened in recognition as Rika halted in front of her. "I, that is, we…never got to say thanks…if it weren't for you and Dobermon, we could never have defeated the D-Reaper."

"Oh," Alice said quietly, her voice soft, with an almost dreamy-like quality to it. "Well…thank you." She turned around to walk off.

"Do you want to come eat with us?" Rika blurted out without thinking. Alice turned around again and gave Rika a quizzical look. "You were a tamer too, so you'll fit in quite well, as we all are, or have been tamers at one point. Please."

"I…have no food."

"You can have mine," Rika offered. "I'm not very hungry today, as Guilmon's bread was surprisingly rich and filling. I doubt I was going to eat the rest anyway. Listen, if there's anything we can do for you…I mean, you've done so much for us and all…" Annoyed at her stammering, Rika sighed angrily and scratched her head.

Alice laughed, not loud and uproariously, but soft and yet spirited. "You're not much of a sentimental person, are you?"

Rika grinned sheepishly. "Is it that easy to tell?"

Alice nodded. "I'll come with you. I don't have any other plans any way."

Together the two walked back and had lunch with the rest of the group. To the casual observer, it seemed as if it were a bunch of kids playing with large stuffed animals and having a good time, joking around, occasionally earning a couple of whacks from a fiery-looking redhead, or coaxing a shy blonde girl to be more open, and succeeding judging by her laughter and smile as she made her first real friends.

…

At two o'clock in the afternoon, the friends began to pack up their trash in their lunch bags to throw out when they got home. Just as they were about to split off in different directions, a man appeared, in a black suit as always.

"Yamaki! What're you doing here?" Takato asked as their former enemy came over.

"I came to give Rika her birthday present," he said in his gravelly voice.

"How'd you even know it was my birthday?" Rika asked.

He looked at her over the tops of his glasses. "Government agent. We know these things. Anyway, what I wanted to give you was this." He held out a watch in his hand. "It may look like a normal watch, but it is also a communication device. All you have to do is hold on to these two buttons on the right side to speak with us, and hear us in return. You'll know if we've sent you a message by the small flashing light on the screen here, in the corner. It should work anywhere, and I believe that this may come in handy, considering how much trouble you kids always get into."

Rika took the watch and strapped it to her right wrist. "Thanks, Yamaki. Not bad, not bad at all. There are no secret buttons on here that launch a new Juggernaut program, right?"

Yamaki cracked a smile at that. "No, none at all. I'm never going to live that down, am I?"

"Not likely," Rika answered, then held out her hand to shake. Yamaki grasped it. "Listen, this is a useful gift, and I am glad you gave it to me." She let go of his hand, and he bowed slightly.

"Happy birthday, Rika," he said, then left.

"Man, does that dude ever lighten up?" Kazu asked.

"Doubt it," Henry responded, and then said, "Bye guys!"

"Bye Henry!" Takato yelled out with the rest of them. "Bye Jeri, bye Rik-oh, you're wearing the shirt I gave you!"

Rika gave him an exasperated look. "Yes, Gogglehead, I am. Did it really take you _that long_ to figure it out?"

"Oh," Takato said. "Well, yeah, maybe, I'm not sure, I mean, I wasn't really paying attention to what you were wearing and all and I really just now noticed it."

Rika rolled her eyes. "You are a complete and utter gogglehead, Gogglehead."

He laughed. "Gee, thanks Rika."

Soon, they had all said their goodbyes and it was just Rika and Renamon alone, walking back to their house.

Deciding they had time, the two went to walk along a stream's bank in the park, taking a scenic route over a quick route home. The stream rested in a small gorge, and the path continued at the top. Balancing herself, Rika walked right along the edge.

"Be careful, Rika. You might fall," Renamon warned.

Rika stuck her tongue out in response. "Oh, quit worrying. I won't fall, and if I did, all I'd do is get a little wet and muddy. Big deal." Renamon chuckled, and continued to walk beside her trainer.

"See, I can do this just-whoa!" Rika let out a shout as she tumbled through the air. Amused, Renamon decided to let Rika fall and get wet. _It might teach her a lesson._ Renamon thought.

That is, until a sudden purple light filled the air. Everything began to happen in slow motion. Astonished, Rika looked down as she fell to see a portal opening up beneath her, right above the stream. Renamon saw it too, and leapt over the edge to catch Rika. "Renamon!" Her tamer called as she hit the portal and fell through, sinking right into it and disappearing. The yellow fox digimon angled her body and dived in after her partner, thinking only one thing. _Rika! _She, too, vanished through the portal.

As the sun set on a nice day, the portal slowly closed, and it was as if Renamon and Rika had never been there.

…

Sorry, I know this is a bit shorter than the last chapter, but now the action should be starting soon. After all, where oh where could this portal be heading? I was being sarcastic. Anyway, like I said, things should be starting to pick up soon, once Rika's mysterious disappearance is noticed, the tamers and her family need to find out what happened to their beloved red-head, and Rika and Renamon, in a whole different world, must collect their bearings and try to find a way out, and back to the human world.

*For those who don't know, an onigiri is sort of a rice treat, with white rice in either a triangular or oval shape, and often wrapped in seaweed.

MegaHog14: Thank you so much for your review! This is really my first big story, and that was my first review ever, so it's nice to know that at least one person is reading and enjoying my writing.

Naturally, reviews are always welcome.;D And once more, if you spot any typos, feel free to let me know so that they can be corrected.


	3. Chapter 3

Time for chapter three!

Here is my disclaimer now, listen up and listen well, Digimon is not my own, so I'll just write my tale.

What? I'm trying to change the disclaimers up a little each time. And yes, I know the rhyme is awful. Deal with it. Story time!

…

Chapter 3

"We're back."

"Seems like it."

"We must find a way out."

"Uh, duh, Renamon. Thought that was obvious."

"I apologize."

"For stating the obvious? That's not a crime."

"I apologize for apologizing."

"Look, this is your fourth time here, right?"

"Yes, and I believe this is your third, counting the time we came to rescue Calumon, and the time you returned to find me."

"Yep, third time's a charm. Only problem is, the stupid portal closed behind us."

"We got out your first time."

"Yeah, with _Grani's_ help, and Grani gave its life to Gallantmon."

"Is there any way to contact the real world, Rika?"

"Not that I know-hold on a sec! I've got that watch Yamaki gave me."

"…Is it working?"

"Of course not! Stupid Yamaki and his devices, the last one he gave us didn't work either."

"It did a little."

"That reminds me, I never got Takato back for putting _hearts_ after my name! I'm gonna-"

"Rika. Focus."

"Right. Anyways, we might be stuck waiting until a digital storm hits, because that was when the connection device worked last time."

"Should we search for shelter?"

"Where? We're in a barren wasteland! I mean really, I would've thought the digital world would have healed more than this by now."

"The wounds of war take long to heal, and when they do they still leave scars."

"Don't get all wise on me."

"What a compliment."

"Ugh! Look, let's just follow your plan and keep walking until we find _something_."

"Very well."

Renamon and Rika began to walk in a completely random direction in the barren land around them. Not even the large, bright purple balls of excess data rolled past them as they walked, away from where they'd entered. After entering the portal, they had fallen into the digital world, about fifty down. Luckily, the sand beneath them kept them from harm, but the portal was too high up to reach without any aide, of which there was none. Despairingly, the two had watched the portal close above them.

Now, they walked through the middle of nowhere.

Rika walked beside her partner, thinking, always thinking. _I wonder if they'll ever find us._

…

"It's getting dark," Seiko said worriedly.

Rumiko smiled at her mother, but Seiko could tell that her daughter was as tense as she was. "Don't worry, Mama, she'll be home soon. She's probably just hanging out with her friends and losing track of time. She'll be home soon."

"I hope so." Rika's grandmother frowned deeply. "It's not like Rika to come home so late, at least without giving us a call. I mean, you did get her that cellphone a year ago, surely she'd think to use it."

"Mama, don't worry," Rumiko reassured Seiko. "Rika has Renamon to protect her. Plus, I've already tried calling Rika's cell."

"And?"

"I picked up," Rumiko said, grinning ruefully and pulling Rika's phone out of her pocket. "It was just ringing in her bedroom. Of course she'd forget it."

"Ah," Seiko said, and fell quiet. "I was really hoping you had some news for me."

"Don't worry, Mama, she's fine! It's only nine o'clock! She's probably at a friend's house. Remember, I was out late almost every night."

"Yes, and I worried each night. Really Rumiko, do you want your daughter to take after you in that respect?"

"Ah-" Rumiko was about to say something, then cut herself off. "Er, no, I guess I don't. But it's possible she is, that's all! Let's just wait, she'll show up soon, you'll see!" Even though she was smiling, Seiko could see that Rumiko's smile did not touch her eyes, and she could see the flicker of worry in her eyes mirrored in Rumiko's.

Seiko sighed. "You're right. We just have to wait."

…

Ryo lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He kept thinking of the necklace he'd given her. She hadn't said anything about it at lunch, but he guessed she must have opened it, considering she was wearing Takato's and Jeri's presents. He closed his eyes. Why couldn't he just tell her? Why did he have to annoy her so much? His charm always seemed to work with other girls. So why not Rika? Normally, when he played the 'my (insert nickname here)' card, the girl swooned. Good. And yet, Rika had looked like she was literally about to murder him. Not good.

Oh, darn it all. He had to ask what she thought. I mean, he'd really put a lot of effort into finding the perfect gift for her. He sat up and grabbed his phone. Opening his eyes, he dialed the Nonakas' house phone and waited. _Riiiinnng. Riinnn-"Hello?"_

"Ah, hi Ms. Nonaka! I was wondering if I could talk to Rika. Is she there?" Ryo asked.

Silence. "Ms. Nonaka?"

"_Sorry, sorry, I was, um, checking to see where Rika was," _Rumiko's voice answered.

"Okay. Where is she?"

"_She's in the shower."_

"Oh, okay. Then I'll call you back." Ryo was about to hang up, when Rumiko's voice stopped him.

"_Wait! Can you answer a question for me?"_

"Sure."

"_When did Rika leave you guys?"_

"Around two. Why?"

"_No reason. Um, did she happen to go with any of her friends, to hang out at their place, or something?"_

"No, she and Renamon just left by themselves. They were heading home, but it seemed as if they were taking a long route through the park to get home."

"_…Okay. Thank you."_

"Wait!" Now it was Ryo's turn to stop Rumiko from hanging up. "Is something wrong? Why are you asking questions like 'when she left' and 'did she leave with anyone else'? Has something happened to Rika?"

_"No no, not at all!"_ Rumiko's voice sounded a bit too rushed as she replied.

"Ms. Nonaka, can I talk to Rika?"

_"I've already told you, she's in the shower."_

"But Ms. Non-"

_"Bye!"_ The phone cut off.

"She hung up on me," Ryo said, confused. "Why wouldn't she let me talk to Rika? Something strange is going on." Face set in a determined line, he began to dial another number.

…

"We're lost," Rika said in defeat, looking around at her surroundings hopelessly.

"How can we be lost, if we have no set destination?" Renamon asked.

"Well, for starters, we have no clue where we are," Rika retorted, and waved her arm around. They were still attempting to cross the waves of reddish-brown sand and dirt that seemed to spread infinitely in all directions. Not even a single rock poked up in the flat wasteland.

"We would not know where we are no matter where we are. We lack maps and a compass, though I wonder if a compass would work here. We have no landmarks to go off of, and no real end to our journey in the digital world. In truth, we know nothing of the layout of the digital world."

Rika glared at Renamon. "Way to make me sound like an idiot."

Renamon looked at her tamer, her voice sounding amused as she replied, "To whom, Rika?"

"Ugh," was Rika's only response, as she kept walking. Renamon fell silent and walked beside her for awhile.

As they walked, night fell in its usual rapid way, the darkness spreading quickly across the sky. "I'll never get used to that," Rika muttered. Renamon only chuckled in response.

After a time had passed in the endless expanse, Rika squinted her eyes as she spotted something up ahead. "Hey, does that look like-"

"A forest?" Renamon finished her sentence. "Yes, I believe it does."

"Well? What are we waiting for?" Rika cried out, and began to sprint. Laughing Renamon followed, glad to have found some sign of life.

…

"Hello?"

_"Hey Henry, it's Ryo."_

"Hey Ryo! What's-Terriermon, get away from the phone! Anyw-Suzie! Don't help him! Fine, I'll put it on speaker." Groaning, Henry placed his phone on speaker so that Terriermon and Suzie could hear. Lopmon wanted to as well, but she knew the value of self-control. "Sorry about that Ryo."

_"It's no problem, dude. Look, I want-"_

"Hi Wyo! This is Suzie hewe!"

"Keep quiet Suzie. Yo, Ryo, Terriermon is here too! Is the puppy on the other end?" A growl from the 'puppy' emitted over the phone in response.

_"Haha, yeah, Cyberdramon's here. Listen, can I talk to Henry alone?"_

"Why? Ya got something wrong with us hearing, do ya, pal, do ya?"

"Terriermon!" Henry hissed.

"Suzie wants to heaw too! I'm a pwincess, and pwincesses desewve to heaw!"

"No, princesses don't! Guys, shoo!"

"Fine!" Suzie stormed out of the room, grabbed Lopmon's ear, and dragged her out with her.

"Poor Lopmon," Terriermon said, then looked at Henry as he glared at his digimon. "What? I get to hear, okay? I'm your partner!"

Henry sighed. "Fine. Okay, what is it, Ryo?"

_"It's…well, I'm not sure what it is."_

"Spit it out!"

"Terriermon!"

"Fine, I'll shush."

"Can you clarify, Ryo?"

_"Okay, I called Rika's house a few minutes ago and-"_

"_You_ called _Rika_? Why?"

_"Look, it's…'cause…it…it doesn't matter, okay?"_

"Whatcha hidin'?"

"For once, I agree with Terriermon."

_"I wanted to ask her what she thought of my birthday gift, okay? Anywa-"_

"What'dya get her?"

"Shh, Terriermon, let's hear him out! Continue."

_"As I was _saying_, I called Rika's house, and her mom picked up."_

"Your point?"

"That's it, Terriermon, out!"

"What? No way!"

"I _said_, out!"

"Momentai, Henry! I promise I'll be quiet!"

"This is your last warning. I'm _really_ sorry, Ryo. If he interrupts again, I'll gag him."

_"No worries, man! Like I said, her mom picked up, and I asked to talk to Rika. She hesitated a long while, and then said Rika was in the shower. So I said that I'd call back, and she stopped me. Then, she started asking me questions like 'What time did Rika leave you guys?' and 'Did she leave with any friends?', and so I answered her questions, but it made me kind of suspicious. I mean, why would she ask things like that? So I asked her, 'Is something wrong?' 'Has something happened _to_ Rika?' And her answer was really rushed, like 'No no, not at all!' I began to get suspicious, and demanded to talk to Rika, and she said again that Rika was in the shower. I began to argue again, but she just said 'Bye!' and hung up. It's gotten me a little worried. I mean, it sounds pretty suspicious, don't you think?"_

"You're right, it does. So what? Do you think maybe she didn't come home?"

_"That is a big possibility. I just don't know. But I think you're right. I think that she didn't come home after she left us at lunch. My guess is that something must have happened to her. But what?"_

"You don't think she was kidnapped, do you?" Henry's voice began to panic a little.

_"That's just it! I don't _know_! But I just know something's wrong, and it's absolutely killing me!"_

"What is it Terriermon?"

_"Huh?"_

"Oh, Terriermon's just jumping around and pointing at his mouth. I don't know wh-I get it now! You don't have to be quiet anymore!"

"Thanks, finally! Look, I just wanted to say that Renamon's with Rika. I don't think a pathetic human could kidnap Rika with her around."

"…Pathetic human?"

"No offense."

"None taken. Why didn't you mention this right off the bat?"

"You made me promise to keep quiet, duh!"

"Whatever. Anyway, Terriermon has a point."  
_"Indeed he does. I just don't know. Should we go to her house and ask?"_

"We could, but if nothing at all was wrong, Rika would probably slaughter us for showing up at her house past nine at night."

_"…Very true…Then what do you suggest?"_

"How about we just wait until tomorrow? It _is_ Spring Break, and we were planning to meet up again for lunch. If she doesn't show up, we can assume that something is really wrong."

_"…Okay, I'll wait. But if she doesn't show up tomorrow, I'm heading straight to her house."_

"Why do you care so much?"

_"…Bye Henry." Beeeep._

Henry stared at the phone in his hands. "He hung up."

…

"Renamon, how about you go scout ahead?" Rika asked her partner, panting slightly. She sprinted a ways, but, naturally, grew weary and stopped to rest. Now, she stuck with alternating between walking and jogging. The possible forest still seemed as far as ever, but it least it was something, an oasis in the barren desert they'd been trekking through. At the moment, Rika was walking beside her friend.

"No." Renamon's reply was short and abrupt.

Rika turned to gape at Renamon. "_What?_ But, why not? You're so much faster, and can check and make sure it's really a forest. It's the logical thing to do."

Renamon refused to look at Rika. "No," she said again.

"Renamon..." Rika's voice held a bit of a warning tone in it. "If you're not going to do it, then at least tell me _why_ you're not going to do it."

Renamon hesitated, then replied simply, "You."

"What do you mean, me? How am I stopping you from scouting ahead? It was my idea!"

The yellow fox digimon halted in front of Rika and turned around to look at her. Grasping Rika's shoulders, Renamon looked her tamer straight in the eye. "You. What happens if, while I'm off scouting, a digimon attacks you? What then?"

Rika laughed. "Don't be silly, Renamon, look aro-"

"Rika." Renamon's serious tone halted her partner. "Think. Without me, you are no match for a digimon. You could be killed!"

Rika's eyes widened. "You're really worried, aren't you."

"The digital world is _dangerous_, Rika. It's difficult to survive as a _digimon_, let alone a human. I don't want to leave you unprotected. Do you understand?"

The redhead's gaze dropped to her feet. "Yeah. I understand."

"Good," Renamon said. "Now, if you want to get there faster, I have an idea."

…

Seiko leaned against the front door frame, staring out into the darkness of the night, while behind her, Rumiko paced back and forth, back and forth. She could hear her daughter muttering, her eyes filled with worry.

Though Seiko didn't pace like her daughter did, it made her no less worried.

"Eleven o'clock, Mama, _eleven o'clock_! Where could she be? That boy, Ryo, had said she was heading straight home after they finished lunch, around _two_! It doesn't take a person _nine hours_ to get home! Something must have happened, oh, I just know something did. What if she was kidnapped, or is hurt and tied up somewhere, and oh, we should call the police! Something awful could have happened and-"

"Be quiet!" Seiko demanded, shutting her daughter up. "We know nothing yet. Rika is a smart, resourceful, and trustworthy girl. Whatever the reason she is so late, it will be a good one."

Rumiko sighed. "I know, Mama, I know. It's just…I'm so worried! All I want is for my baby to come home. She's _never_ done anything like this before! I just…want…to know where she is!" Breaking down, tears began to stream out of Rumiko's eyes.

Sorrow in Seiko's own eyes, she knelt down to comfort her daughter. "There there, we both know that Rika is safe with Renamon protecting her. She's fine, I can just feel it."

"Can you, Mama?" Rumiko turned her eyes, red from crying, to her mother's. "You really believe so?"

Seiko hugged Rumiko. "Yes. I know so. She'll come home safe and sound, don't you worry." Getting up, she went to take her position by the door once more. Closing her eyes, she fought back tears of her own. _Rika, please come home soon._

…

"Nice idea Ren-Kyubimon."

"Glad you like it," Kyubimon replied as she raced across the barren land to the forest, which loomed closer and closer every pawstep she took. Rika rode on her back, hanging on tightly.

"Now _this_ is what I call traveling in style."

"Because you're riding a giant fox?"

"Because I'm riding a giant, _fashionable _female fox, who is completed connected to me, as I am to her."

Kyubimon smiled as she ran. "Thank you, Rika."

Rika grinned. "You're welcome."

They were almost there. Dust and sand rose behind Kyubimon as she sped her way towards the forest, of which they were both positive it was. Panting, Kyubimon decided to call a halt. "I'm getting tired, Rika. May we rest?"

In response, Rika slid off Kyubimon's back. "Of course, silly! I have two legs, I can use them. If you're tired, I can easily walk. Look, it's not even far off now."

"Thank you," Kyubimon said, and took several deep breaths. Closing her eyes, she felt herself slowly growing smaller, until she was Renamon once more. "That's better."

Rika stayed beside her friend. "You ready to get moving?"

"As always."

"Then let's go." The duo began to walk towards the forest once more. After a period of walking in silence, Rika piped up, "I'm not tired, hungry, or thirsty. You gotta admit, that is one pretty handy aspect of the digital world."

"Indeed it is," Renamon responded.

Rika sighed. "I wonder if they've noticed we're gone yet."

Renamon didn't question who 'they' were. "Of course they have, Rika. I'm sure your family is very worried by now."

Rika glanced at her watch that Yamaki had given her. "It's past midnight now. I just wish I could find some way to tell them I'm okay." Frustrated, she'd tried Yamaki's watch again, but as usual, it didn't work. "I wonder why the stupid time-telling part works, but not the communication part. Stupid government technology."

"Would you rather the time-telling part not work as well?"

"No, of course not. For once, I'm actually looking forward to a digital storm. It'd be great to at least tell Yamaki where we are. Then, he can work on a way of getting us back to the real world."

Renamon's head shot up. "What is it?" Rika asked.

Renamon's hackles began to rise. "Trouble."

Rika looked ahead, spotting a dark silhouette in the distance, hovering above the ground. "Seems like someone doesn't want us to pass into the forest."

As they walked closer, they could make out the digimon standing guard. Rika pulled out her D-Arc and held it out to the digimon. After a second, its data showed. "Mothmon. Insect-type digimon. Watch out for his draining Energy Sucking attack, and the flammable Gauss Powder that he spreads around. Hmph. Only a champion. Renamon?"

"Yes, Rika?"

"Walk all over him."

"With pleasure." Renamon began to run forwards, her fox tail streaming out behind her. Rika hung back, ready for an easy battle. It was only one champion. Renamon could easily defeat him. That is, until his friends showed.

"Renamon, pull out!" Rika shouted as digimon upon digimon filed out behind Mothmon. Rika pulled out her D-Arc again. "Blossomon, plant-type digimon, with its devastating Spiral Flower and Thorn Whip attacks, _ultimate_! Renamon, come back! You can't fight them alone!"

Renamon, seeing the danger, skidded to a halt and came running back. "I'm sorry, Rika, I did not see them."

"It's okay Renamon, we'll just find another way into the forest-what's he saying?" The Mothmon was yelling out a command to the ten or so Blossomon around him. Finally, Rika's eyes widened as she made out what he was saying. "Attack!"

The Blossomon, with Mothmon in the lead, began to charge towards Rika and Renamon. "Rika, I need to digivolve."

"I'm on it," Rika said, pulling out a Digi-Modify card. "You ready, Renamon?"

"I always am."

"Let's get 'em."

…

Soooo? What do you think? I told you I'd have some action soon. And I do apologize for all the switching points of view, but it was kind of necessary to give you an idea of what everyone was thinking.

And once again, thanks to MegaHog14 for your second review! Don't worry, I won't answer your question, because to be honest, I'm about as clueless as you. I'm the type of person who comes up with the main plot, then lets the story write itself. I really hope I'm keeping the story up to your expectations! By the way, since I'm pretty new to this site, or at least to writing on it, what is an author alert and a story alert? I've seen the terms before, but I'm not aware of their meanings.

Aaah, don't you just love online writing? My personality online is so different from my shy, rarely-ever-speaks self in real life. Don't you just love being a whole new person? Or maybe this is the real me. I wonder.

Anyways, I'm trying to keep a regular update schedule here, updating once a day, mainly in the evening time. Hopefully, I should have the next chapter up tomorrow night.

And as always, if you spot any typos, feel free to tell me so that I can fix them.

Thanks again for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four is up! By the way, just…picture the digivolution sequences, alright? Or go watch it on youtube, or something.

And I'm really sorry about the delay. I've been pretty busy, and I had a huge case of writer's block. You know, the kind where you can stare at the page all you want, but absolutely _nothing_ comes to you? So I took a few days off writing, and it returned, but you can still tell my writing's a little forced as you near the end.

Disclaimer: I own Digimon…in my own little world. In the real world…no.

Chapter 4

"Digi-modify! Matrix digivolution, activate!"

"Matrix Digivolution."

"Renamon matrix digivolve toooo…Taomon!"

Rika stood beside Taomon as the other digimon advanced. "Be careful," she whispered as Taomon leapt into the air. "Thousand Spells!" Taomon cried, shooting off her attack. The Mothmon quickly flitted out of the way, leaving a Blossomon to feel the full force of the blow. Crying out, it disappeared, leaving only a cloud of data.

Ignoring their friend's death, the Blossomon advanced further, Mothmon calling out orders from behind them, at a safe distance. "Thorn Whip!" they all shouted, and vines with sharp spikes protruding from them whipped out at Taomon from the Blossomons' line of defense. "Aaaggh!" Taomon cried out as several whips hit her. "Thousand Spells!" Another Blossomon disappeared in a burst of data, but already Rika could see that her partner was getting tired.

"Hang in there, Taomon!" she called in support.

"Talisman of Light!" Taomon slid a large paint brush out of her robes and drew a character in the air. It turned golden, and flew at two Blossomon, destroying both at once. Still, there were six more to go.

"Taomon, look out!" Rika shouted as the Blossomon yelled simultaneously, "Spiral Flower!"

Flowers zoomed through the air like a ninja's throwing star, with the same deadly point on each petal. Taomon heeded Rika's warning and did her best to dodge the attacks, but was still hit nonetheless. Panting, she fell to the ground.

Rika ran over. "Taomon, are you alright?" she asked worriedly.

"I'm…fine, Rika. Let…let me handle this." Ever the stoic warrior, Taomon stood back up and planted her paws firmly in the ground. She pulled out her brush once more. "Talisman of Light!" The Blossomon were expecting it this time, and neatly dodged out of the way. "Thorn Whip!" Taomon was too weak to dodge. Screaming, she fell to her knees, and a white light shrouded her as she began to shrink. Soon, only a beaten Renamon crouched before the approaching enemy.

"Renamon, no!" Rika cried out as she raced towards her digimon. Kneeling by her friend's side, Rika looked up in panic at the Blossomon and Mothmon heading towards them, now less than one hundred feet way.

Rika's eyes hardened, and she held out her D-Arc. "Renamon, you ready?" The yellow fox nodded. "Let's do it."

"Bio-merge digivolution."

Holding out her D-Arc, Rika shouted, "Bio-merge activate!"  
"Renamon bio-merge tooooo…Sakuyamon!"

Now, instead of facing an ultimate, the Blossomon found themselves face to face with a mega level digimon, Sakuyamon. "Ready, Rika?" Renamon's voice could be heard.

"Yes, Renamon," Rika replied, from deep inside Sakuyamon.

"Let's walk all over them," they said together. "Spirit Strike!" Four foxes, one each of the colors red, blue, green, and yellow, flew from Sakuyamon's scepter and attacked the Blossomon. With a cry, each one evaporated into data, until only Mothmon was left.

"Mothmon," Sakuyamon asked, Rika's and Renamon's voices intertwining into one, "why do you attack us? Why do you deny us entry into this forest?"

Cowering, Mothmon answered, "This is my forest! Mine! And I thought you were here to wreck it! After all, you're with a human, or, were with a human, and then you digivolved with her! How? How is that possible?"

"We are not sure. But we need each other to become so strong. Why did you attack us? You could have simply confronted us for an answer."

"How was I supposed to know? You looked really suspicious! We haven't had any humans here since the tamers that defeated _it_ came to our world-oh no. You're not-you're not one of them are you?"

"Indeed, we are. We helped destroy the D-Reaper's core in our world, saving both worlds from utter destruction. Why do you ask?"

Instead of answering, he quickly bowed. "Forgive me! I did not know you were one of the saviors!"

"Saviors?" It was only Rika's voice that asked the question, with a bit of contempt held in it.

"Yes, saviors! The mighty digimon and their partners that saved our world! I beg your forgiveness! Please, come into the forest as you like. I'm so sorry! I just assumed that you were another tamer and her digimon."

"There are no other tamers besides those of us who fought the D-Reaper." Rika and Renamon spoke in tandem once more. "We forgive you, and we apologize for fighting the Blossomon. But they should come back. Their data was not uploaded."

Mothmon groveled even more. "I should have known from the moment you spared their lives that you weren't evil. It's just that we learned from Zhuiqaomon that humans were never to be trusted."

If Renamon hadn't been controlling Sakuyamon's body as well, she would have rolled her eyes. "Typical," Rika's voice said.

"I can show you around, if you'd like!" He exclaimed, as if it were the perfect way to repay the two for attacking them unnecessarily.

"Why not?" Rika asked.

"Why not indeed?" Renamon's voice said as well.

Mothmon quickly threw up his arm to cover his eyes as a flash of white light burst from Sakuyamon. When he looked once more, Rika and Renamon, two separate entities, stood before him. "Alright," Rika said, rubbing her hands together, "time for our tour!"

"Of course! Right this way!" Mothmon led them into the forest, his four green-gloved hands waving them on, brown wings fluttering as he hovered above the ground.

Rika followed, though Renamon hesitated a slight bit. "Oh, might as well," she murmured to herself, and teleported to be right next to Rika.

…

Yawning, Seiko sat at the wooden table in the living room and sighed. She checked her watch for the umpteenth time: it was almost noon, now. She had stayed up almost all night long waiting for Rika, only falling asleep at five o'clock. Rumiko had gone even later, and had fallen asleep only two hours ago. She had a photo shoot today, but had called to cancel, with barely a reason why. Seiko knew that her daughter risked a lot in canceling on such short notice, without a valid reason, and she was proud of her daughter for doing so. Rumiko was sprawled out on the floor beside the table, and Seiko was not keen on disturbing her.

Right now, her worry last night seemed like nothing compared to this morning. Rika didn't come home. They'd waited, all night long, and she hadn't come home. Something was terribly wrong. That's all Seiko knew.

Something was terribly wrong.

…

Henry, Terriermon, Suzie and Lopmon were the first to arrive at their favorite spot under the large oak tree in the park where the group often ate lunch. "I hope Rika shows up," Henry said.

"Wika? Why, Henwy? Wika can be so mean!" Suzie stated.

"Do you think Rika might not show up?" Lopmon asked, curious as to why Henry would say such an out of character thing.

Terriermon piped up, hoping to distract the two. "Nah, Henry just wants Rika to show up 'cause he heard she got some pretty cool new cards in that deck Kazu and Kenta got her! He's hoping to trade, you know, so he can modify me and make me Superawesomecoolterriermon! Right Henry?"

Laughing, Henry nodded. "Right, Terriermon."

"See, momentai!" Terriermon winked discreetly at Henry, who smiled back.

"Look, it's Wyo!" Suzie cried out, pointing to Ryo and Cyberdramon approaching from a distance.

"'Sup, Ryo! We're waiting for everyone to show up," Henry greeted his friend, keeping his message hidden in normal.

Ryo nodded as he came and sat down. "Alright, then. We'll just wait until everybody shows up." Henry could still hear the worry in Ryo's voice, and he himself was a little nervous. What if Rika didn't show up for lunch? What if something really had happened to her?

Pretty soon, the whole gang had arrived. All, that is, except Rika and Renamon. "Where is she?" Ryo muttered under his breath as he picked at his lunch.

Unfortunately, others took notice of her absence as well. "Geez, Rika's late today, isn't she? It's already a quarter past noon, and she's still not here," Kazu groaned. "Well, it's not like that's stopping us from chowing down, right?" As soon as he finished saying so, he began to dig into his lunch.

Takato turned to Jeri, who had been the last to arrive. "Jeri, you normally come with Rika, so, uh, do you know why she's late?"

Jeri shook her head. "I waited outside her house for a few minutes, but she never showed up, so I went on ahead."

"Did you ring the doorbell?" Henry asked.

"Yes, but no one answered. She might have been busy with other plans, or something. You know her mom is really pressuring her into the model business," Jeri answered.

Ryo seemed puzzled. "That may be true, but remember, Jeri, that Rika made her mom promise to never interfere with her friends. She told us so herself."

"You're right, Ryo. So I guess that can't be it," Jeri said.

Takato threw in his guess. "Well, um, I guess Rika could be sick, or something."

Kazu laughed. "Rika? Sick? Can you even imagine that girl weak and lying in bed? Man, I'd love to see that happen!"

"Kazu!" Kenta said angrily. "Rika's our friend, don't say stuff like that!"

"Whoah, it was just a joke, okay? I don't actually want to see Rika sick!" Kazu said, although he added under his breath, "It would be interesting though."

"Kazu has a point, but not about wanting to see Rika sick!" Ryo added hurriedly as his friends turned to glare at him. "Has any of us seen Rika sick?"

"Come to think of it, no, we haven't," Henry replied. "She's always fit and raring to go. I don't think I've ever heard even the sniffles from her."

"Look, why are we making such a big deal out of it? So, Rika's busy, she missed _one_ lunch, whoop-de-doo! She'll show up tomorrow!" Kazu said, folding his arms behind his head.

"You're wrong," Ryo said quietly, and all eyes turned on him.

The group fell silent. "What do you mean?" Jeri asked hesitantly.

"Last night, I tried to call Rika, to ask her something. Her mom picked up. Said she was in the shower. But something was wrong. She began to ask me questions about when Rika left us after lunch, and if she went with anyone. I asked her if something was wrong, and she responded far too quickly for everything to be okay. When I demanded to talk to Rika, she hung up. And now…I was really hoping Rika would show up for lunch, but she didn't. I think something's really wrong, guys. I was planning on heading to the Nonakas' house after lunch by myself, but do any of you want to come with me?" Ryo asked them, looking down to avoid their shocked looks.

"Count us in!" Terriermon shouted.

"We already knew, so of course we're going to come with you," Henry said.

"Now you have me all worried!" Jeri said, clearly upset. "You mean to tell me you think something's happened to Rika? Well of course I'll go with you!"

"I don't know exactly what's going on, and all, but you can count me and Guilmon in too, right boy?" Takato asked his partner.

"Of course, Takato!" Guilmon replied readily. "Rika and Renamon are friends! And we protect and look after our friends."

Kazu laughed. "Nicely said, Guilmon, nicely said! Ah, heck, I'll come too. I don't wanna be worryin' about Rika all afternoon. You comin' too?" His question was directed at Guardromon.

"Indeed, Kazu! It is the noble thing to do," Guardromon answered.

"Well, I guess I'll come too, with Marineangemon of course," Kenta added, and Marineangemon nodded.

"Good," Ryo said. "We're all settled. I say we head to Rika's house now. What do you guys think?"

"We're with you!"

…

"That's it! No more tours, ever! I mean really, is there a more boring tour guide in both worlds than Mothmon? Ugh! I'm just so glad it's over!" Rika complained as she and Renamon sat in a grass hut in Mothmon's village. Apparently, he presided over a large group of Wormmon, and had given Rika and Renamon shelter to rest in after his tour of the forest.

If Rika didn't have her headphones with her, she'd have probably died of boredom. Mothmon had a very annoying tendency to drone on and on and on about the history of various things that held little or no importance to Rika. He had taken them around the forest, pointing out different things. Eventually, Rika had remembered her headphones. To her surprise, they actually worked, leading her to believe that communication through the devices was what was difficult to achieve. Grinning, she had placed the headphones over her ears and drowned out Mothmon's monologues in music. He ignored her, not actually knowing what it was she was wearing on her head.

Now, she went through all of the stuff she had. Rika had her lunch bag, but it was empty and wouldn't do her any good except to carry stuff in. She had that new pack of digimon cards Kazu and Kenta had given her, still safely in her pocket. She had Yamaki's watch, her headphones, her usual set of digimon cards, and her clothes, consisting of Jeri's scarf, Takato's shirt, jeans and sneakers. And, of course, her D-Arc.

Groaning, Rika leaned back against the wall of the hut. "How are we _ever_ going to get out of here?"

Renamon crossed her arms and sighed. "I don't know, Rika. I honestly don't know. I never imagined we would end up in a situation like this, let alone prepared for one."

"What's to prepare for? The only way we can get out is for Yamaki to send something, and no one at home has a single clue we're here! If only this stupid watch would work." Rika proceeded to glare at her watch.

"Until then, I think we should search. There is a very slim chance that another portal might open up somewhere, and we might be able to find it and return to the human world. I know," Renamon added as Rika opened her mouth to comment, "the chances are slim to none. But we have to try, don't you agree?"

"Yeah," Rika muttered. "Should we head out soon?" She covered her mouth with her hand as she yawned. "Why am I tired? I thought basic needs didn't matter here?"

Renamon shrugged. "The others slept here last time as well, as did you. We'll leave once you've gotten some rest."

Rika nodded and slowly shut her violet eyes. "Sleep…sure, sounds good." Soon, her breathing became more even and Renamon sat down. She kept her eyes on Rika, but her mind was racing, trying to figure out some way to get her tamer back to the world she belonged in.

…

Seiko's head shot up as the doorbell rang. Blearily, she stumbled to the door, Rumiko waking up behind her. _I must have fallen asleep. _She thought and answered the door. She blinked in surprise as she noticed all of Rika's friends there, Ryo in the lead.

"Um, hello," she greeted them hesitantly. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

Ryo took the initiative and spoke, getting straight to the point. "We want to see Rika."

Seiko visibly stiffened, and this did not go unnoticed. "Rika's not here at the moment. She's, uh, out a photo shoot."

Rumiko chose this moment to appear besides Seiko, rubbing her eyes. "Why are you all here?" She addressed the children.

Ryo glanced accusingly at Seiko. "Wouldn't Rika's mom be with her at the photo shoot?"

Rumiko, realizing that she'd just ruined Seiko's cover, hastily tried to repair it. "No, my, uh, manager came by and picked her up."

"Rika told us one time that you'd promised never to let modeling interfere with her friends," Ryo's voice was hard as he quizzed the Nonakas.

"Well, this was a very important opportunity, and I made Rika go this one time," Rumiko said nervously.

Ryo planted his feet in front of them. "I've said it before, and I'll say it again. We want to see Rika."

"Rika's gone," Seiko said in defeat.

All of the tamers looked shocked. "What do you mean?" Ryo asked worriedly.

A weary-looking Seiko answered his question. "She never came home. Rika never arrived back home after leaving your picnic yesterday. We've had no word from her, and have no clue where she is. Happy now?"

Ryo stayed silent, brooding over the news. Henry piped up. "You should report this to the police, Ms. Nonaka."

Rumiko slowly nodded. "We really hoped she would show up…but you're right. We do need to let the police know. Listen, all of you, go home for now. We'll tell you any additional info tomorrow, okay?"

Slowly, the tamers nodded. "Alright," Ryo said. "But remember, we care about Rika as much as you do. Anything we can do to help, we will."

"You are a kind young man," Seiko said. "Rika is lucky to have friends such as you all. Good-bye!" With forced cheerfulness, she waved the kids away. "Everything will turn out all right, you'll see!" As soon as she shut the door, she slumped against it, tears slowly leaking from her eyes.

"Mama, it'll be okay. Rika's a tough girl. Whatever happened, wherever she is, we can bet she's fine," Rumiko said, attempting to soothe Seiko. "Listen, I'm going to call the police like Henry suggested."

Seiko watched as her daughter went to the phone and dialed a number. "Hi, this is Rumiko Nonaka. My daughter has been missing since around two o'clock yesterday…Yes…Okay…We just want you to keep a lookout…Can you search as well?...You can expend a few officers, great!...Yes…Thank you. Bye." Rumiko turned towards Seiko. "The police are looking. We should as well."

Seiko nodded. "Good idea, daughter." The two Nonakas grabbed a picture of Rika and left to drive around town, asking people if they'd seen the young girl in the picture.

…

So anyways, another chapter done. I hope to have five out fairly soon, and I promise I'll try really hard not to avoid long hiatuses between chapters like I did between this and chapter three.

MegaHog14: Thanks for the info! That's good to know, now I can keep track of my own favorite stories.

cherryblossom10: Thanks! Haha, I didn't realize it had been done before, though I could have easily guessed it with over 33,000 entries in the Digimon category. Still, I'm glad mine is different, and that you like it! And yeah, if someone says something like Ryo did, I can just picture Rika frothing at the mouth and muttering dire threats. Of course, I don't _think_ she'd ever carry them out…

Anyways, reviews are always appreciated, yada yada, spot any typos feel free to tell me, blah blah blah, the usual. See you in chapter five!


	5. Chapter 5

Alright, chapter five is up! I hope I did alright and all…I'm sorry the story's been a bit slow, but I haven't been completely sure what to write. I really should've planned this out beforehand…;P

Anyways, yeah. Hopefully this chapter picks up the pace a bit!

Also, a thousand apologies for the massive delay. I really am sorry it's taken me so long.

Disclaimer: Do I really have to put this on every chapter? I have no idea. But yeah, I don't own Digimon. You'd think the past four disclaimers would've gotten the point across.

Chapter Five

Rika looked outside of the cave she and Renamon were sheltering in and grinned, pulling out Yamaki's watch. "This better work," she said.

After waking up at about midnight, Rika and Renamon took their leave of the Wormmon village, saying a thank you and good-bye to the sentry as they left, telling him to send their regards to Mothmon. They walked for hours, leaving the forest and wandering through another fairly barren landscape. The ground was dry and cracked from the heat, and Rika and Renamon traveled a ways through it until slowly finding respite in cooler temperatures as they entered an area that, though the ground was the same, contained shade from giant rock pillars. They walked on before finding themselves descending into a canyon of sorts, and continued on their path.

Now, eleven hours after leaving Mothmon's village, they had taken shelter in cave when they saw in the distance the approaching signs of an electrical storm. Now, Rika was determined to try Yamaki's watch, in the hope that it would get a message through to him.

Renamon stood behind Rika, looking over shoulder. Though the time still showed on the watch, no matter how many times Rika pressed the two buttons on the right side, the small red light that let her know that she was in contact with Yamaki never lit.

"Argh! Come _on_, there's an electrical storm coming! I thought you stupid electronic things worked in those!" Rika yelled at the watch, frustrated. Trying once more, she hit the two buttons…nothing.

Again…nothing.

Again…nothing.

Once more…hold on! The red light was on! "Yes!" Rika said, before remembering that she probably didn't have much time. "Listen Yamaki, this is Rika, and I'm with Renamon. We're trapped in the digital world! This portal opened up out of nowhere, and we fell through it. We need you to send something to get us back to the real world! Got it? Yamaki? Dang it, answer me!" The red light sputtered out before Rika could say anymore, and she noticed that the electrical storm had passed them.

"He better have gotten my message," Rika muttered darkly, before signaling to Renamon to get up. They were going to walk some more, see if maybe they could find _anything._ And maybe, just maybe, Yamaki got the message and was preparing something to fetch her and Renamon home.

…

"Sir, someone just sent us a message," Riley called from her chair in front of the large computer screens.

Yamaki looked at her. "A message? From who?"

"We don't know, sir."

"Well, play it, then," Yamaki commanded.

"Right away, sir," Riley said, and hit a button.

A sound file began to play, but it was crackly and hard to hear, let alone understand. They could only catch snippets of words. "Yes…sten…ki…and…Rena…apped…ita…ld…porta…out…no…fell…we…sen…get us…to…eal wo…it?...maki?...swer…"

Yamaki took his glasses off and stared at the screen. "We don't know who it's from?"

Riley shook her head. "No sir. But from the sounds of it, I'd say a young girl. Is it important enough to spend time deciphering it?"

He glanced at her, then said quietly. "That girl…I heard 'Rena' in the message."

Riley froze. "You don't think-"

"I'm calling the Nonakas."

…

Yesterday, after learning of Rika's disappearance, everyone couldn't help but dwell on the fact as they walked home.

Jeri hoped she was okay, and that nothing bad had happened to her, or Renamon.

Takato just wished she wasn't hurt in anyway, or worse, gone forever. She was a member of their team, and a good friend.

Henry didn't want to lose one of his best friends, and thought of all sorts of situations she could be in, and how he could help get her out.

Suzie was worried Rika might have overheard the little girl calling Rika 'the mean girl'. Suzie hoped she hadn't run away because of what she said.

Kazu liked Rika. Though they always fought, and she always teased him, she was his friend, and he would bet money that no matter how much she denied it, he was her friend to. He didn't want anything to happen to his friends.

Kenta was just waiting for what he knew _must_ be a nightmare to end.

Alice, who had been told of her disappearance last night by Henry on the phone, was devastated. She'd just made a new friend and, like Dobermon, she'd gone away. Only, she hoped that Rika would be able to come back, something Dobermon could never do.

Each and every one of the digimon was just as worried for Rika and Renamon as their Tamers.

And then there was Ryo. Currently, at the time of 10:30 in the morning, he was with Seiko and Rumiko, Cyberdramon there as well. They were all sitting in the living room, discussing plans to scour every corner of Tokyo, even all of Japan if that had to, to find Rika.

That was when the phone rang.

Ryo picked it up for the Nonakas. _"Hey, this is Yamaki."_

Ryo blinked in surprise, then answered, "Hi Yamaki."

_"Ryo. Listen, I need to verify something. Can you get Rika for me?"_

Ryo winced, and shook his head, even though he knew that Yamaki couldn't see it. "No…" he said at last. "She's been missing for two days now."

_"…Alright. I'm coming over." Beeep._

Ryo pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it. "What the heck?" he said, rubbing his temples. Seiko and Rumiko gave him questioning looks, and he sighed. "It was Yamaki."

They seemed as shocked as him when he said it, but didn't say anything. "Anyway, he said he wanted to 'verify' something, then asked to talk to Rika. I said she's been missing and now he's coming over. But, really? That guy really needs to lighten up, and why is he just coming over?"

Seiko added in, "He's a government agent. Stuff doesn't surprise them. Don't you think one of your friends might have found it odd if you picked up at the phone at Rika's house?"

Ryo blinked. "You're right. He didn't seem phased at all. Well, I guess we can't search at the moment. Hopefully he gets here soon."

…

Rika and Renamon were in a jungle now. The digital world really needed a set environment, because they just kept switching back and forth. They'd left the barren rocks behind a little while ago, and were traveling down a trail in the jungle. Not forest, like where Mothmon's village lay, but true, dense jungle.

"Ugh. I'm getting tired of slapping leaves out of my face all the time," Rika complained, and Renamon nodded her agreement.

A rustling in the bushes ahead of them caused Rika to falter a moment, and then continue walking normally. She glanced at Renamon, who nodded slightly to let her know that she too had seen and heard the disturbance.

The team kept walking until the rustling grew louder and a digimon leaped out of the foliage and landed in front of them. Standing there, he just looked Rika over.

Rika stared back at him. He looked like a lion cub, except for the fact that he had a large, red tuft of fur on his head, and that he wore a golden necklace with a green pendant on the end around his neck. But even without the oddities, Rika still would never have believed he was a normal lion cub.

Pulling out her D-Arc, she got the data on him. "Leormon," she said. "Rookie level. Common attacks are Leo Claw and Critical Bite." She looked down at him, but he still didn't say anything, just continued staring at her.

Fed up, Rika finally said, "Quit looking at me already! What's your problem?"

Leormon looked up at her, didn't say anything, then finally spoke. "You're not her."

"Who's 'her'?" Rika asked, exasperated.

The digimon just stared at her. "_Her,_" he said, as if that explained everything.

"What does _her_ look like?" Rika questioned him.

He shrugged. "I dunno."

Rika rolled her eyes. "Then how are you going to find 'her'?"

He shrugged again. "I dunno. I just know that she's human, and she's a girl. And you're not her." He stared one last time at Rika, then bounded off into the jungle once more.

Renamon murmured, "What a strange digimon."

"Yeah, no kidding," Rika agreed. "Come on, let's keep moving."

…

Yamaki walked into the Nonakas house and got straight to business. "I think I know where Rika is," he said. Seiko, Rumiko, and Ryo all stared at him, then began talking all at once.

"Where is she?"

"How do you know?"

"Tell us!"

"How did you find it?"

"Did she contact you?"

Instead of answering all the questions, he motioned to Riley, he had come with him and was standing behind him and to the right. Holding up a recording device, she replayed the message from earlier.

_"Yes…sten…ki…and…Rena…apped…ita…ld…porta…out…no…fell…we…sen…get us…to…eal wo…it?...maki?...swer…"_

They fell quiet immediately. "We've identified the voice as Rika's," Yamaki said, explaining. "We also managed to figure out a few words. She used the watch I gave her, but the connection between two different _worlds_ is obviously not good. Anyways, you 'Rena' in the message. Renamon could only mean Renamon. Following that is the word 'apped'. We're taking it as trapped, meaning that Rika and Renamon are trapped. Now, the two words that followed each other pretty closely and that caused us a lot of trouble were 'ita' and 'ld'. But finally, we realized, think of 'ita' as 'jital'. What comes to mind?"

"Digital," Ryo whispered. "Digital world."

Yamaki nodded. "Correct. 'Porta' would be portal, 'fell' is self-explanatory, and you can hear the words 'get us'. Though we don't know how, we've deduced that Rika and Renamon are trapped in the digital world."

Seiko blinked, stunned. "No wonder no one can find her," she said softly.

Ryo spoke up. "How are you going to get her back?"

"We're working on a portal device that'll open up a doorway between the worlds. The only problem is, we have no way of locating her. We'd almost have to send someone in with a transmitter device sending their location, and then picking both them and Rika and Renamon up once they've been found. But it's too risky to send someone else in."

"I'll go." Ryo's face was hard and determined as he spoke up.

Yamaki shook his head. "No. We can't risk losing Rika and Renamon, as well as you and Cyberdramon. We don't even know if the transmitter will work."

Ryo shook his head, his mind set. "I'm going. Look, I spent a long time in the digital world before. I can do it again, if I have to. But it won't be a long time. Plus, if I'm there with Rika, at least there'll be double the protection and safety. Alone, Rika is in more danger. Yeah, she has Renamon, but some digimon can take down even megas like Sakuyamon. Please."

Yamaki's face looked pained. "It makes sense…but what if something happened to you as well? I can't have that happening."

The young tamer closed his eyes for a moment and thought, then opened them again. "What if I get my dad's permission? Surely you'd let me go then."

Sighing, Yamaki looked defeated. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he handed it to Ryo. "Call your dad."

Nodding, Ryo took the phone and went outside, standing just outside of Rika's room. He dialed his father's number and held the phone to his ear. The answer was almost immediate.

_"Hello?"_

"Hey Dad."

_"Ryo! How is the search for Rika going?"_

"We know where she is now." His voice was expressionless as he talked.

_"That's great! But…something's wrong."_

"Dad…I'm leaving for a while." Ryo didn't bother asking. He simply stated that he was going. And he was, too. With or without permission.

_"…To get Rika."_

"Yes."

_"And she is…?"_

"In the digital world."

Ryo heard a sigh on the other end. _"Come home to say good-bye and pack up."_

His son blinked. He'd thought his dad would immediately object. "Okay, thanks Dad," Ryo said.

_"Bye." _His dad hung up, and Ryo closed Yamaki's phone. He began to walk back to the kitchen area when he saw a glint of silver on Rika's desk through her door. Recognizing it, he looked around, then walked into her room.

Picking up his birthday gift to her, he surveyed the room, noticing that some of her gifts were on her desk as well. Hesitating, he quickly tucked the necklace into his pocket. He would give it to her later, when he found her again.

Padding into the kitchen, Ryo handed the phone back to Yamaki, who then spoke. "Pack up. Get ready. I'll come pick you up at six. Then, we'll brief you, and send you in."

…

Their encounter with the strange Leormon was really the only interesting thing of the day, besides the digital storm, in which they'd hopefully gotten a message through to Yamaki.

Once more, as they always seemed to be doing in this alternate world, Rika and Renamon were walking, in no particular direction, and at no particular pace.

"I wonder how he did it," Rika mused, half to herself, half to Renamon.

"Who?" the fox-like digimon asked.

"Ryo," the redhead replied. "He and Cyberdramon were here for so long. I mean, the entire time after he disappeared after winning the Digimon Grand Prix he was here, in the digital world. I didn't even know digimon existed at that point."

Renamon smiled slightly, bringing up a point that probably seemed irrelevant. "You called him by his name."

Rika looked at her, startled. "What, Akiyama?"

"You said Ryo earlier."

The tamer grimaced. "Yeah, so?"

"Nothing," Renamon said, though there was a sly glimmer in her eyes.

"Hmph. I don't see why it's so important."

"It's not. I was simply mentioning it."

"Yeah, well, don't do it again," Rika snapped. She didn't have to worry about offending Renamon, because the yellow fox only had an amused expression on her face. "So anyways, I just don't get it. I mean, it's not like he had a digimon like _you_ to accompany him. He had _Cyberdramon_. And all he does is growl. Not very good company, don't you agree?"

Renamon shook her head, laughing mentally. Rika was not very subtle at changing topics. "No, I don't suppose someone who growls all the time would be considered good company."

Rika nodded, not noticing her digimon's amusement. "My point exactly."

…

Everything was set. He'd been brief on exactly how to handle everything.

Step One: Enter the digital world.

Step Two: Find Rika and Renamon.

Step Three: Contact Yamaki through a special device programmed specifically to work in the digital world. Once contact has been activated, his position as well as Rika's and Renamon's will be known to those in the real world.

Step Four: Go to a marked location that will be transmitted to him upon meeting Rika after making contact with Yamaki.

Step Five: Go to marked location.

Step Six: Get on Grani 2.0 and return to real world.

He ran over the steps in his head and nervously tapped the communicator held in his hand and strapped to his wrist. It was vital that absolutely nothing happen to it.

It was his and Rika's only lifeline back to their world.

In all honesty, the plan was pretty simple. But somehow, the simplest of plans always tend to become complicated.

His D-Arc strapped to his belt, a whole deck of cards for modifying, Rika's necklace in his pocket, and his digimon by his side, the brown-haired boy looked back around the room one last time, taking in the site of his father, the Nonakas, all of Rika's friends, and Yamaki, all waiting for him to enter the man-made portal to the digital world.

It was a cylinder of metal. He felt, as he stepped inside it, like the floor was going to drop from beneath him, and he would fall down a long chute to a secret government agent base.

But he was already in a government base.

Cyberdramon stepped up beside him. There was barely enough room for the both of them.

Yamaki walked forward, pulled a lever.

Metal doors with a glass covering closed around him and his partner. He could still see out, to all of the people depending on him to bring Rika back home.

The lever pulled, Yamaki typed in a quick code, and pressed a button.

There was a flash of purple light inside the metal cylinder, and when the viewers eyes grew adjusted once more the normal lighting, he and Cyberdramon were gone.

Ryo was now in the digital world.

…

Finished! I know, it's kinda short. But now I actually have somewhat of a plot formulated in my head, and things'll be a lot better once Ryo and Rika meet up. Things should hopefully be a little more interesting by that point.

Ethereal Thoughts: Thanks! Yes, there will be more Ryuki, I promise, I just need to get Ryo there. But yeah. Expect it fairly soon. Well, them meeting up, that is. I'm not promising anything about how Rika's going to react, though. ;D

Once again, so sorry for the wait! I'll try to get the next chapter up fairly quickly, as band camp stops next week and I'll have all day to type. So expect at least three chapters up during the course of next week.

Also, thanks to all those who have Favorited/Alerted my story. It means a lot to me. See you in chapter six!


	6. Chapter 6

My dad blocked fanfiction.

x.X

Hence the reason why I couldn't update. Apparently it interfered with school work.

It probably did. Hehe, sorry about that.

On the plus side, I now have a bunch of new chapters to read. However, I'm going to be mean, and only post one for the moment. The reason being that I'm going to start sticking to a new schedule, updating my stories once a week on Monday. Now, I'm doing this so that I don't have any more long gaps like I did because of this past time. Seeing as the story isn't done, I don't want to post all the chapters at once, and then have you wait a long time again. This way, you'll always know when each new chapter will be coming out. ;D

Now, this chapter is kinda short. But the reason is that I _had_ to end it with Rika's reaction. Know what I mean? But the rest are normal length. I just didn't have much to write for this chapter.

Disclaimer: …Meh. I think the point's gotten across already.

Chapter 6

No sign of her. It had been two weeks, and still no sign of her. Sighing with frustration, Ryo leaned against the trunk of the tree and surveyed the forest he rested in. Cyberdramon, as always, stood on guard next to him.

He wondered what everyone at home was thinking. It had been two weeks, and he still hadn't managed to find Rika. But who was he kidding? Rika was somewhere in the digital _world_. She could be anywhere in this blasted place. It may take him _years_ to find her.

Ryo grimaced. He shouldn't think like that. He'd find her. He had to. Thinking back to a few days ago, he remembered his encounter with a Mothmon in a Wormmon village. He had asked questions to the digimon like he did with all he met (that didn't try to kill him), and surprisingly enough, he'd gotten some information.

Rika and Renamon had passed through several days ago. So now, he was trying to track her down.

But he'd come up with nothing. The search was fruitless. She could have gone anywhere after leaving the Mothmon. And he hadn't found any other digimon whom she'd talked to.

Getting up, he stretched out his arms and back and nodded to Cyberdramon. His partner tilted his head to show he understood, then fell in step behind Ryo as the tamer began to stroll once more through the forest.

Wordless exchanges. Ryo and Cyberdramon knew each other so well that they hardly ever needed to speak, to know what the other wanted. Over a year in the digital world alone together would do that to you.

This being so, Cyberdramon understood Ryo's worry for Rika. Understood the reason why he cared so much about the redhead being missing, and was so quick to volunteer to head back to the digital world, with no guidance as to her whereabouts.

They didn't need to discuss it. It was a fact that both knew, a knowledge that was undisclosed to anyone else.

Ryo's eyes rested on the horizon as they continued walking. He'd find her. He knew would. It was only a matter of time.

…

So much time! Her feet were sore, her legs were sore, her whole body was sore! And the cold! The insane, icy, never-ending cold that bit her exposed skin and made her numb. Her arms hugged her chest and her teeth chattered in her mouth as she walked through the snow-covered landscape, flakes swirling around her and Renamon.

Renamon was worried about Rika. As they trekked through the white landscape, she kept her eyes trained on her tamer. The redhead pretended like nothing was wrong, that she was fine, that the cold didn't bother her.

But her act didn't fool Renamon one bit. She could see the nearly imperceptible shaking of her limbs, the way she held herself, trying to bring maximum warmth to her body.

For the umpteenth time, Renamon fervently thanked Jeri inside her mind for giving Rika that scarf, because without it, Renamon was sure her tamer would have suffered a lot more. But she was still suffering badly now.

Takato's shirt gift to Rika was, thankfully, long-sleeved. But the thin material did little to protect the girl from the bitter frost that clung to her very being.

"That's it." Renamon halted, and grabbed Rika's shoulder, to force her to stop as well.

Annoyed, Rika turned to face her partner. "What?" she asked, fighting to stop her teeth from chattering.

"We need to rest. We'll find a cave, and then we'll find a way out of this frozen desert. Understand?" Renamon stood her ground in front of Rika, expecting an argument.

"Okay," was the simple reply. Renamon blinked in surprise. Okay? _Okay_? Rika didn't agree to things like that so passively.

This was more serious than she had thought.

Without a second thought, Renamon scooped Rika up in her arms, once more expecting a protest and getting none. Rika didn't want to answer with a retort. She was too tired. Too cold. Resting in Renamon's arms, her eyes began to shut, alarming Renamon even more.

"Rika, stay awake," the fox-like digimon commanded.

Groaning, Rika blinked open her eyes and glowered up at Renamon. "Why?" she snapped, though her voice lacked its normal energy.

Renamon just shook her head. She didn't have the time to explain to Rika that by sleeping, she would only succumb to the cold, and her body would be in even more danger.

Sleep would have to wait.

Beginning to run, Renamon set off through the snowy fields.

It was only three days back that they'd come here. It was just a large, grassy plain, with hills and caves lining the landscape. Harmless. They'd set out to cross it, on their journey with no end, when it hit. A freak snowstorm, out of nowhere. In less than two hours, the entire expanse was covered in snow. They began to backtrack, but the place they'd come from had disappeared under the white blanket as well.

Determined, they began to walk through the snow. What else could they do? There was nowhere else to go. Cold was in every direction. Once more, they placed their fate in the hands of luck.

Luck seemed not to be in their favor.

After a day, Rika was beginning to weaken. She didn't need food or drink, being in the digital world, but cold affected her as it would have in the real world. It numbed her, sapped her strength, stole her breath. She needed to rest. To sleep, to recover from the hard day's journey.

The first night was okay. They'd sheltered in a small cave, Renamon building a fire to warm Rika, and sitting guard all night. But the second night, after finding a similar cave and going through the same routine, Renamon couldn't wake Rika up in the morning.

She had begun to panic. No matter how much she shook Rika, the tamer refused to wake. Her lips had been tinged with blue, and when Renamon felt her hand, it was ice-cold. The fire hadn't been strong enough to keep her warm.

With this thought in mind, Renamon did her best to warm Rika up. She wrapped Rika in her arms, let the warmth from her fur seep into the young girl, and at last she had woken up, and they'd set out on their journey.

And now, with Rika, defenseless, in her arms, Renamon feared that if she were to sleep, she would never wake up again. That the cold would drag her from this world and leave only her body, a shell of what she used to be.

Renamon was lucky. With her thick fur, and the fact that she was a digimon, she found that the cold didn't affect her terribly. It was more of a nuisance, but not life-threatening. Like it was to Rika.

There. Renamon spotted a niche in a hillside and immediately began to head towards it. Head down against the wind and snow flurrying around her, she pushed doggedly onwards, Rika held tight to her chest.

Finally, she reached the niche, and burst inside, having to dig out a bit of snow to clear an entrance first. Laying Rika down, Renamon set to work building a fire.

Only after the fire was built did she think to check on Rika. Naturally, Rika was fast asleep.

Renamon took a couple of deep breaths. She wasn't going to panic. In fact, she was known for keeping a level head in almost all situations.

Gently rubbing Rika's shoulder, Renamon called out her tamer's name. "Rika. Rika, wake up."

No response. Renamon shook Rika harder and spoke louder. "Rika. Wake up. NOW." Still no response.

It was only then that she noticed how utterly pale Rika was. Her skin was white, with shades of blue in some parts, and icy to the touch. "RIKA!" Renamon shouted. For the first time in a long time, Renamon began to panic. "_RIKA!_" she yelled, holding Rika's shoulders and jerking her back and forth. Her head just lolled listlessly to the side.

Wrapping her arms around Rika, Renamon hugged her tamer and kept her as close to the fire without physically burning her as she could.

"Please wake up," Renamon whispered to her tamer, staring bleakly at the empty air around her. "Please."

…

At the moment, Rika wasn't so much concerned as to where she was, but who she was with. The last thing she'd remembered was falling asleep in a snowstorm, and now she was in the same grassy meadow that the place used to be before the digital world went all weird and turned it into a snow valley.

However, it wasn't Renamon by her side.

It was Ryo.

WHY was it Ryo? Rika had no idea.

No matter how much she tried to run away from him, he was always there, around every rock and corner and tree. "Stop following me!" she yelled, exasperated and slightly freaked out.

Ryo just shook his head. "I have to protect you," he said.

Rika snorted. "_Renamon_ protects me. Not you. Now leave, Akiyama."

Again he shook his head. "But I don't want to." And then, he leaned forward towards Rika's face, causing her to jerk backwards. "What are you _doing?_" she screeched in shock.

He looked hurt. "But isn't that what you wanted?"

"OF COURSE NOT!" Rika yelled, backing away from Ryo. "Leave me alone!" She turned and fled in the opposite direction, only to run smack into Ryo, who had somehow appeared in front of her.

He grabbed her shoulders. "Rika. You're not getting away from me," he said, then, to Rika's horror, his form began to change, until he looked like an extension of the D-Reaper, his skin purple and strange, his eyes snake-like and yellow, his hands turned to claws.

"LET ME GO!" Rika screamed, breaking free from his grasp and attempting to run away again, only to hit a wall. Looking up and around her, she realized with panic that the grass meadow had become a valley, with walls hemming her in on all sides. She stared in horror as red goop began to seep over the walls and into the bowl.

It was the D-Reaper.

Spinning around, she stood, back against the wall, as Ryo came closer. No, she had to stop calling him Ryo. Because no matter how much she hated the guy, this wasn't Ryo, but the D-Reaper. As the Ryo-Reaper came closer, Rika held her fists out in front of her and set her legs in a defensive stance. When it reached a claw out to her, she smacked it away.

It hissed in pain and glared daggers at her. "Riiiika. That wassssn't niceeee. It'sss meee, Ryooo."

"You're not Ryo!" Rika yelled back defiantly.

"Hooow do you knooowww?" it asked, its voice sibilant and cold.

Rika froze, then answered, "Because I know Ryo. He would never do something like this. None of this is real! I don't belong here! RENAMON!"

"Rika!" Renamon's voice was faint, but Rika jerked her head upwards when she heard her partner's voice. "Renamon?"

"Rika, wake up!"

Rika looked around her, at the D-Reaper oozing down the valley walls and at the Ryo-Reaper. Closing her eyes, she pictured herself in the real world…well, digital world. _Wake up_, she thought to herself. _Wake up._

"Rika, please wake up!"

Moaning, Rika blinked open her eyes to see Renamon's worried face hovering over her. The face broke into a smile. "Rika, you're awake! Oh, thank goodness!"

"Renamon?" Rika asked weakly. "Is this the real world?"

Renamon smiled. "Yes, Rika. Yes, it is. And look." Gesturing, Renamon pointed with her arm to the outside of the cave, which was now a green meadow. "The snow disappeared as quickly as it came. Rest, and then we'll continue our journey."

"Sounds good," Rika replied, before sinking back into a much more restful sleep.

…

Ryo and Cyberdramon stood at the edge of a large green meadow, with various hills dotting the landscape and, upon closer observation, caves as well. He glanced at Cyberdramon. "Wanna look through here?"

Cyberdramon growled in response.

Ryo shrugged. "Yeah, I think so too. This's as good a place as any."

With that, they both set off into the plain.

…

Five hours later was when everything came together.

Ryo and Cyberdramon were walking through the field when they saw, in the distance, a bright yellow figure and a smaller, red-headed figure, walking out of a cave in a hill.

Ryo stopped in shock, then began to run forward, laughing exuberantly. He'd found her!

…

Now that Rika was feeling better, she insisted on getting moving. Renamon agreed, albeit reluctantly. Rika was in unusually high spirits. After her freaky nightmare, she was happy to just be back in a somewhat normal world.

Naturally, Renamon was confused when Rika checked back over her shoulder and stopped dead, staring into the distance. "Kill me," she commanded to Renamon.

Startled, Renamon looked at her tamer. What brought that on? Following Rika's gaze, Renamon looked out into the distance to see what had upset her partner so badly.

Two figures were running towards them. One had spiky brown hair and a red bandana, and the other resembled a dragon, with a silver, metal head.

Rika could only stare in shock as the two came closer, and Renamon heard her mutter under her breath again.

"Kill me now."

…

So yes, the two are finally going to meet up. This was a bit of a filler chapter, if you couldn't tell, but now the story should pick up the pace, seeing that Rika and Ryo are about to meet up. Sparks will fly, people.

MegaHog14: Thank you so much for being such a loyal reader and reviewer! Unfortunately, I'm afraid (though it wasn't necessarily all my fault) that I took far too much time in writing. It's just…you know, real life comes first. If I could access at the time, I would have updated, but it would've been really irregular and probably might have resulted in a long hiatus anyways.

GuyWithNoTalent: First off, I hardly doubt your username is true, and when I read your stories, I bet it'll be proved wrong. Secondly, I'm glad I had such good timing, even if it's been skewed ever since the release of chapter five. And yeah, my story hasn't gotten much publicity, but the fact that I have a few people reviewing is good enough for me. ;)

As always, if you see any typos, please tell me, and be sure to review!


	7. Chapter 7

Hey all, it's chapter seven time!

I'm glad you guys are still reading and enjoying this work! Anyways, I'll answer reviews like usual at the footnote. ;D

So here we go! Featuring: The Long-Awaited Return of RYO AKIYAMA!

Sorry. Totally quoted the cover of a Spiderman comic (Volume 23, Return of Doc Ock). So sorry. Just in a dramatic, announcing mood today.

Ahrm. On to the story!

Chapter 7

Rika spun around on her heels and began to walk rapidly in the opposite direction. With a shimmer, Renamon had vanished, reappearing beside Rika and quickly matching her hurried stride. "Rika, why are we walking away?"

"Hmph," was Rika's only reply as she began to walk faster still, red and white tennis shoes pounding the meadow grass beneath her. Renamon snuck a glance behind her shoulder to see Ryo climbing onto Cyberdramon, a confused look on his face at Rika's flight. With a sigh, Renamon glanced at her partner, and decided not to say anything.

The yellow fox could hear the beat of Cyberdramon's wings as he overtook them, but Rika could not, with her limited human senses. Sneaking a glance upwards, Renamon could see Ryo and Cyberdramon, and when they passed, their shadow passed as well. _This_ Rika noticed.

The red-haired tamer lurched backwards as Cyberdramon landed with a _whoomph_ in front of her and Renamon. Ryo quickly clambered down from his back. Rika turned to flee once more, but before she could, Ryo had grabbed her shoulder tightly. Spinning her around, he stared her in the eyes. "Rika, what are you _doing_?" he yelled, furious.

Wrong move.

Rika narrowed her eyes and jerked out of his grasp. "I'm getting away from _you_, that's what!"

Ryo glared daggers at her. "But I was sent to rescue you!"

"I don't need rescuing!" Rika shouted right back, about to stomp away from him.

"Do you have any _idea_ how much you made us all _worry_?" Ryo's voice was forceful, and his sentence was enough to stop Rika dead in her tracks.

Turning slightly, she glanced over her shoulder. "Um…yeah, I guess. But they know I've got Renamon." Before she stormed off, a thought hit her. "_Who_ sent you to rescue me?" she asked.

"_Everyone_," Ryo replied. "Everyone. We've all been worried sick about you, Rika! You just…just _disappeared_! We had no clue where you had gone, what had happened…if you were okay." Throughout his tirade, Rika kept her face looking away, her back to the young boy. "Your mother and grandmother were terrified, and the rest of us were as well! No clue! None at all! You just vanished! And now, you say you don't need rescuing? Huh? Then why didn't you come _back_? If you didn't need rescuing, you'd be back in the real world already!"

"Why did they send you?" Rika's voice was quiet, and direct-to-the-point. "Why not Henry? Or Gogglehead? Why_ you_?"

_Because I volunteered,_ Ryo thought, but he knew he could never say that out loud, to her face. "Because I'm way more familiar with the digital world than those two." He kept his voice cold, expressionless. Heh, that's what she thought of him anyway, right? Nothing more. Never more.

"…How's Mom?" Rika asked, a small amount of strain evident in her voice.

Ryo gritted his teeth. "Scared out of her wits. We _all_ were! We thought maybe you'd been kidnapped, or attacked, or, or we thought-"

"Quit saying 'we'!" Rika snapped, still keeping her face turned away.

Ryo reeled backwards as if struck. "What do you mean?"

Rika's eyes blazed, though she knew Ryo couldn't see them. "I _mean_, quit saying 'we'! As if _you_ cared as much as the rest of them!"

"I care_ more_," Ryo hissed under his breath, though he kept it quiet enough so that no one could hear. Though he didn't notice it, Renamon's ear had twitched as he said it. "Rika, listen, okay, I know you hate me, but I was just as worried as everyone else!"

Rika snorted. "Not likely."

"Dang it, Rika, do we have to be enemies?" Ryo yelled, his face red in anger, not so much at Rika but at the hopelessness of the situation. There was no possible way she'd ever feel the same.

To his surprise, Rika didn't answer. Ryo kept quiet, thinking she would, but a full minute passed, each second causing Ryo to grow more and more anxious. "Do you really hate me that much?" he asked softly, finally, scared of the silence and scared to break it.

Rika slowly turned her head to look at Ryo. "So what if I do?" she asked, sneering slightly.

"Well, I don't," Ryo stated simply, watching her closely.

Rika's eyes widened at his response. What? But, how? She hated him. He hated her. That's how it worked. How could he not hate her? Ah, that's it! Maybe hate was just too strong of a word. "Fine," she growled out. "I don't hate you. But I don't like you either."

Ryo sighed. Still, it was better than her hating him. "Look, let me call Yamaki, now that I've found you. And maybe we can finally go home."

Rika gave a small 'hmph' and stepped up beside Ryo. "So? Contact him already, Hero Boy."

Rolling his eyes, Ryo pressed a button on the communicator strapped to his wrist, biting back a retort. A slight buzzing sounded, then Yamaki's voice. "Hello? Ryo? Is that you? Have you found Rika and Renamon yet?" Really, the man never sounded flustered, even now.

"Yeah, it's me, Yamaki. Rika's standing next to me right now," Ryo said, glancing over at Rika. "Say hi, Rika!"  
Rika glared at Ryo. "Shut up, Akiyama."

A slight chuckle could be heard through the communicator from the other end. "Yes, Rika's there alright," Yamaki said. "And Renamon?"

"Ever present," the fox said, standing beside her tamer.

"Good," Yamaki replied.

"Do you have our location?" Ryo asked, hoping that the device, which was already working nicely, would work yet again.

On the other side, though Ryo and Rika couldn't see it, Yamaki smiled to himself. "Don't worry, Ryo, I've got your position. But I have some bad news."

Groaning, Rika was no doubt about to make some snide remark before Ryo cut her off. "What's up?" he questioned.

"Grani 2.0 hasn't been finished yet," Yamaki answered. "We need more time. In the meanwhile, you four keep safe. We can be in constant contact with you from now on, and once Grani 2.0 is built, we'll send you the marked location where it'll be going in. That's all I believe."

Before Yamaki could terminate the connection, Rika cut in. "Wait! I've got a question. Is there any way you can get a hold of our friends and family? So we can talk to them?" she asked, hoping he'd say yes. After all, why would they not let them talk to Rika and Ryo?

"Hm. I suppose so. I'll contact you tomorrow, with the others here. Understood?" Yamaki said.

"Understood," Rika and Ryo responded at the same time. Realizing this, Rika glared at Ryo, who turned his head away and pressed another button, stopping their connection to Yamaki. "Well, looks like we're stuck together!" he said innocently, spreading his arms wide to gesture at the entire digital world around them. "What do you want to do now?"

"_Now_, we walk, Akiyama," Rika ordered, and began to trudge off towards a forest far in the distance.

"Hey, wait up!" Ryo called, running after her.

Renamon stood and watched them, her calculating eyes sifting through various thoughts and situations, discovering what was best for her tamer in the current position.

Finally, she disappeared, reappearing at Rika's side and quickly matching her partner's stride.

…

Everything was dark. Not a single light to be found. Not a single life to be found. Except for one. One being, one entity, existed in this never-ending darkness.

It couldn't remember anything. Who it was. What it was. Its purpose. Why it was here. Where it was. Everything, every memory, was lost to it.

There was…a battle. It knew that. It was winning…or at least it thought it was. And then…it couldn't remember. Just like it couldn't remember anything else.

How did it come to be here? Floating in this eternal black sea?

Frustrated, it tried to move, only to find itself hit a barrier.

Chains.

This was annoying. It didn't remember doing anything wrong. Or right. How long had it been here? For some reason, it felt like only now, it was beginning to form a consciousness once more.

Why hadn't it earlier?

Gnashing its teeth, it swung its arm out again, hitting the barrier once more. But the barrier felt…weaker. Yes, it felt weaker.

_Awaken, O Timeless One. _Swinging its head, it searched for the voice, squinting its eyes. It knew the effort was futile, but still. A second head awoke, and joined the first one in searching for this voice.

_Recall the past. Recall who put you here. Recall my voice._

Who was it? This voice? Who was this voice calling to it?

No. It had to stop calling itself an 'it'. It was 'he'. He knew that now. But he still couldn't remember anything else.

He was becoming enraged. Now that he'd at last woken up, he couldn't remember a thing. But this voice seemed to want to help him. So he tried again.

_Recall…_ the voice whispered.

_Recall…_

A hazy memory began to form itself in his mind. It was of that battle, the one he was winning. The person...it was…red…no, not just red. Flaming. It was on fire. His opponent had practically been on fire.

_Good,_ the voice hissed, _now recall more._

He growled his agreement, and kept trying, happy that he was finally getting results. He'd lost the battle. He'd been winning, but then his opponent, the Flaming One, had put in a last burst of energy, expending all of its life data, into beating him. And it succeeded.

But…how did he come to be here? Yes, he'd been defeated, but the Flaming One had turned back into a digital egg before his very eyes.

_Recall…_

There was another…yes, another being, opposite to the Flaming One. This one…it was blue, and controlled water, and ice. The Frozen One. That's right. The Frozen One and the Flaming One were friends. And though the Frozen One had come too late to save the Flaming One, it had proceeded to lock him up. And he had come here, to this endless expanse of darkness, locked in a prison for infinity.

_Recall..._

"I'm trying!" he roared, frustrated at the voice's nagging. "I'm trying!"

There were still so many more questions. Why had he and the Flaming One been fighting? Why had he been locked up here? So many questions! And yet, so few answers. He had to try harder. But how much harder could he try?

Wait...he'd been trying to...rule the world? Yes, he'd been trying to take over the world. He knew he'd be a great ruler of it. But what world?

_The digital one... _the voice whispered.

That's right. The digital world. He'd been trying to take over the digital world, and the Flaming and Frozen Ones didn't want him to. So they locked him up here, for all time.

Time...time...there was something about time that kept coming back to him. Something about time...what was it the voice had called him? Timeless One?

His eyes widened. Timeless One. He remembered now. Time was his. He could control time. He was the master of time.

He was Milleniummon.

And his bonds were weakening.

...

"Don't sit near me. Don't come near me. Don't talk to me. Don't even so much as _look_ over here in this direction, or I will kill you," Rika instructed Ryo as they set up camp in a cave hidden in the woodlands. "Am I clear?"

Ryo held up his hands defeat. "You're clear," he said, brushing some dirt away from a spot on the floor. "Nighty night, Rika," he called to her.

A small rock narrowly missed his head and clattered beside him, having been thrown from the direction Rika lay. "Shut up."

"Sleep tight. Don't let the bed digimon bite," Ryo sang out, then, "Ouch!" Rubbing his nose where a larger rock had nailed him, he turned his head to look over at Rika, who was lying on her side and glaring at him.

He watched as she grabbed another rock and quickly covered his head as it came flying at him. "I thought I told you not to even _look_ over here, Akiyama!" she yelled.

Ryo replied, "Aw, but I was just wishing you a good night! Sweet dreams, pumpkin."

"Argh!" Rika practically flew out of bed and was about to hurl herself at Ryo when Renamon appeared and grabbed her shoulders.

"Rika," she said soothingly, "calm down. You both need your rest. And you need to accept that we must travel with them from now on."

Grinding her teeth, Rika hmphed and laid back down in her spot. "Yeah, if he didn't have that stupid communicator, we'd be long gone from him and his guard dog. Oh, shut it," she added after hearing a low growl from where Cyberdramon leaned against the wall.

Closing her eyes, Rika finally attempted to go to sleep, when Ryo said, "Hope you dream of me, Wildcat."

Rika's eyes shot wide open and she glared over at Ryo, who gave a triumphant smirk back. Seething, Rika muttered direly under her breath, "I am so going to push you off the next cliff we find."

She quickly flipped over so that she was facing the wall instead of him, and tried to fall asleep again, this time succeeding.

A rustle in the bushes outside the cave woke her a few hours later.

...

I understand that Milleniummon has his own story or whatever in a couple of videogames, but as I don't know the story, and don't wish to copy it, I've reset his character and a couple others for my own story, and for the Digimon Tamers universe.

Now time to reply to my reviews. Ahem. Number one is…

MegaHog14: Ah, your reviews have been the support to keep this story going! *goes down on knees and reaches hand out to stars* I don't know what I would have done without your ever-faithful reviews!...*has been reading WAY too much manga lately* ANYWAYS, it was definitely extreme. But that's my dad for you. If he sees I've been spending a large amount of time on a website then BAM! It's blocked. Luckily, the school computers don't block fanfiction. ;D

talkstoangels77: Glad you liked the ending! I was hoping it'd get a good reception. ;D

waterflower20:…When I went on to Yahoo to check my e-mail, and I saw all those Fanfiction-Sunrise-Review Alert e-mails…it made me so happy! Trust me, you just made my day! :D My jaw dropped and I got so excited! Okay, now to reply to each of your reviews individually:

1. She and Renamon _do_ have a big soft spot for Impmon. It showed that on the TV show, and I always liked their relationship. They were the only ones who were willing to forgive him. ;)

2. They do indeed! *fantasizes about Ryo and Rika* Now the only thing standing in the way is a certain redhead's stubbornness…

3. Ah, the ages. Now, I answered this question in my super-long-giant author's note at the beginning, but I really can't blame you for not reading that…It's _long_. Anyways, in the original Japanese show, Rika turned eleven on her birthday. However, because I think they look like older characters, I changed it to their English ages, meaning that Rika turned thirteen on her birthday, leaving the rest somewhere around that age. For Ryo, I hadn't given much thought to his age, but I'll make him fourteen. Howzat sound?

4. Hmmm…I didn't intentionally make Rumiko seem idiotic, but I guess it comes with the character. Eh…remember, she was really tired. But it's true, she's not the brightest. Still, she's smart in some aspects. And yes, Ryo has lots of brains!;P Smart kid, that one.

5. Hehe, now you have!;D

6. Haha, thanks! I was hoping it was a pretty Rika-like reaction. As to your theory with the D-Reaper, it's an interesting concept, but I've already got my villain. He's pretty good, too, if you ask me. But maybe someday I'll write another fanfiction, as your idea has got the gears in my head turning.;D

Kimberly Hobbs: If waterflower20 made my day, your review was the icing on the cake, waiting at the end of the long list! Thanks so much for your enthusiasm in the review! This face can really get you pumped up. 8DDD I love that smiley, though I never seem to use it. Hmmm…quirky things, eh? They probably are stylistic, but I'd love it if you could point them out. ;) I'd like to think I have a well-defined style, but it's always changing as I grow as a writer. And thanks for pointing out the choppiness and rushedness (not a word, but eh.) I'd noticed that too, but I haven't had time to go back over and fix it in previous chapters. I just end up doing that a lot, but I'll try to be more careful from now on.;D Did I do better this chapter?


	8. Author's Note

Author's Note

Sorry all, but I'm discontinuing this story. I wish I could give a decent reason, but basically, I'd forgotten about it, and I've lost interest. I realize that the plot only _just _picked up in the last couple of chapters, and I've got quite a few errors throughout. Anyways, I honestly don't think I'm ever going to finish this.

Thank you so much to all those who read, reviewed, favorited, and/or alerted.

Maybe someday, in the distant future, I'll pick it up again, but don't watch out for updates anymore, because there won't be any.

Again, I'm truly sorry.

Thousands of apologies,

Fox Scarlen


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